SH 11 

.fl5 
1907 
Copy 1 




Class S_HJ4 

Book — 



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR 

BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

GEORGE M. BOWERS, Commissioner 



SURVEY OF OYSTER BOTTOMS IN 
MATAGORDA BAY, TEXAS 



Bureao of Fisheries Document No. 610 




WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1907 



DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR 

■> BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

GEORGE M. BOWERS, Commissioner 



SURVEY OF OYSTER BOTTOMS IN 
MATAGORDA BAY, TEXAS 



Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 610 




WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1907 



& 






IVIAR 9 1907 






J^ 



2 



SURVEY OF OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY, 

TEXAS 



By H. F. Moore. 

Assistant, Bureau of Fisheries. 



Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 610. 



PREFACE. 

On February 13, 1904, Hon. A. S. Burleson, Representative in 
Congress from Texas, addressed to the Bureau of Fisheries a request 
that a survey of the oyster regions of that state be made for the pur- 
pose of determining their extent, condition, and the possibilities of their 
development and improvement. It being impossible with the Bureau's 
limited equipment and personnel to' undertake a comprehensive exami- 
nation of the extensive oyster-producing waters of the entire Texas 
coast, a work which would require several years, suggestion was 
made on February 15 that a specific locality be indicated and 
" that the proper state authorities make a formal request for this 
survey in order that the Bureau may know officially that the proposed 
work is agreeable to and desired by the state." Pursuant to this 
suggestion Hon. S. W. T. Lanham, governor of Texas, on March 14 
made formal application for the survey, and in a letter dated May 14, 
in reply to a request of the Bureau, submitted correspondence defi- 
nitely indicating Matagorda Bay as the most desirable region for the 
investigation. The steamer Fish Hawk was detailed to the work, with 
the requisite civilian assistants in addition to her naval personnel, 
and the direction of the survey was assigned to Dr. H. F, Moore, 
scientific assistant in the Bureau of Fisheries. It was the original 
intention to dispatch the Fish Hawk in season to take up the work 
early in September, 1904, but delays incident to the making of neces- 
sary repairs caused unexpected detention and the vessel did not reach 
the scene of her labors until December 14. The work continued until 
May 14, 1905, according to the plans and with the results detailed in 
the following pages. 

George M. Boweks, 

ComTnissioner. 
3 



CONTENTS. 



Pag-e. 

Object and methods of the survey 7 

Description of Matagorda Bay 10 

Location 10 

Area and shore line 11 

Affluents H 

Depth and character of bottom 12 

Channels 12 

The oyster beds - - 13 

Density of oyster growth 13 

Types of oyster beds 15 

Long reefs 15 

Short reefs and lumps 19 

Flat beds and patches - 19 

Description of the principal beds 20 

Half Moon Reef 20 

Mad Island Reef 22 

Shell Island Reef 23 

Forked Bayou Reef - 24 

Dog Island Reef 25 

North end 25 

East side 26 

Southend 26 

West side 27 

Spring Bayou Reef 28 

Boiler Bayou Reefs 28 

Raymond Landing Shoals 29 

Kains and Cleveland Patches 30 

Middle Lump 31 

Boggy Lump 31 

Grass Lump 32 

Idlebach Patches 32 

Middle Patches 33 

East Point Bed 33 

Eleven Mile Lumps 34 

Creek Patches 34 

Dressing Point Shoals 35 

Live Oak Bay 37 

Beds above Dressing Point 38 

Browns Lump " 39 

Marsh Patch 39 

Root Lumps 39 

Ranch Patches 40 

Off-the-Cut Lumps 40 

East Side Lump 40 

Shores and bayous 41 

5 



6 CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Oyster culture 41 

Noi-essity an«l general coupiderations 41 

Demand upon the natural l)eds 41 

I*revious output and posf^ihle yield 42 

The oyster laws and pul)lif. sentiment 44 

Synopsis of existing laws 44 

Discussion of existing laws 46 

Attitude of the public toward oyster culture 47 

Physical and biological conditions of oyster growth 48 

Bottoms and' depths 48 

Tides 51 

Currents 53 

Temperature 55 

Densities of water 57 

Storms, freshets, and silting 61 

Enemies of the oyster 63 

Drumfish 63 

Mussels 65 

Borer, oi' boring clam 66 

Boring sponge 67 

Barnacles 67 

' ' Red grass " 67 

Food of the oyster 68 

Character of food and manner of feeding 68 

Distribution and availability of food 69 

Food value of waters of Matagorda Bay 71 

Table showing stomach contents of oysters from principal 

reefs of Matagorda Bay and food constituents in the water. 72 

Table showing food value of waters of JNIatagorda Bay 73 

Methods employed in determining food value of water 75 

Description of organisms constituting food of oysters in Matagorda 

Bay 77 

Spawning of oysters 81 

Seed and cultch 82 

Summar\', conclusions, and recommendations 85 



Plate I. 





SHUCKING HOUSES SHOWING SHELLS AVAILABLE FOR OYSTER CULTURE. 



SURVEY OF OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY, TEXAS. 



By H. F. Moore, 
Assistant, Bureau of Fisheries. 



OBJECT AND METHODS OF THE SURVEY. 

As stated in the general instructions governing the party, the sur- 
vey had for its object '' the accurate location and charting of all 
oyster beds, scattering growths of oysters, and areas of bottom suitable 
for oyster culture, or which can be made suitable, and also an inves- 
tigation of the biological, physical, and statistical features relative 
to the oysters and oyster fisheries of the region." The entire bay was 
embraced in the original scheme of the survey, but the w^ork was much 
retarded by the inclemency of the weather during the winter, and it 
was found impracticable in the time available for the purpose to 
cover more than the region lying above Half Moon Reef. This 
region, however, is by far the most important part of the bay from 
the standpoint of the oystermen, and during the season of 1904-5 it 
yielded practically the entire product used in the oyster houses. 

The work was thoroughly done, and the location of oysters and 
soundings can be vouched for. It w^as practically a hydrographic 
survey, on which were superimposed the special investigations per- 
taining particularly to o^^sters. Projections showing the location of 
triangulation points used in former hydrographic and topographic 
surveys of the bay were obtained from the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey, together with descriptions of the permanent marks. Three 
of these triangulation points (Sevenmile, North Base, and West 
Point) were recovered and used in the location of the signals erected 
at convenient intervals on the shore, and three others (South Base, 
Duncan, and East Point) were recovered, but not occupied. The 
shore lines, which in places differed considerably from the delinea- 
tions of the projections and charts, were located from three-point sex- 
tant observations at intervals of 500 to 600 yards, the intervening por- 
tions being sketched in by the observers. In general the bay has en- 
croached upon the land between 100 and 500 yards from the shore 
line shown on the projections furnished by the Coast Survey. The 
lines of soundings consisted of a parallel series running at approx- 
imately right angles to the long axis of the bay, connected with the 
shore by a system of zigzags and traversed where circumstances de- 
manded by lines running in the required directions. All the larger 

7 



8 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

and nioro important beds wore developed by stations taken at inter- 
vals of about 200 yards around their margins, which fi^ives consider- 
able accuracy of delineation. In the cases of most of the smaller or 
scattering beds, howevei-. this was considered unnecessary, and the 
actual shape and area of these may therefore vary slightly from that 
shown on the chart. The error in any case is not material. 

The lines of the primary series of soundings were made from 
launches running at a speed of 4 miles per hour, soundings l>eing re- 
corded at fifteen-second intervals, and the position of the boat being 
fixed every five minutes by three-point sextant observations. The 
individual recorded soundings were therefore about 30 yards apart, 
and the positions of the boat were fixed at GOO-yard intervals. 
The lines were run on ranges or on courses and bearings, flags erected 
on shore or in the bay l)eing used as marks to insure accuracy of 
direction. In that j^art of the bay above Kains Landing, where small 
beds and scattered growths are numerous and not all well known to 
the oystermen, the lines were 300 yards apart, but below there they 
were gradually opened out until in the region between Dog Island 
Reef and Half Moon Reef, where the beds are few, large, and con- 
spicuous, they were run at intervals of 800 yards. The sounding pole 
devised by Lieutenant Swift for his work in Apalachicola Ba}' " was 
used continuously while the boats were under way, and in addition a 
chain was dragged from the launch so as to give a practical!}^ contin- 
uous report of the character of the bottom and the presence or absence 
of oysters. The chain was rigged from the bow of the launch on a 
small boom so as to keep it clear of the propeller, a lanyard running 
inboard to the helmsman, who instantly felt the surge of the appa- 
ratus as it came in contact with oysters or shells, and reported the 
occurrence at once to the recorder. 

The zigzag lines in the shoal water inshore were run from a flat- 
boat, the methods of sounding being practically the same as those 
used on the launches. The nature of the bottom in general was 
observed by means of the sounding rod, supplemented at intervals by 
probings with an iron rod to determine the character of the sub- 
stratum. The examinations of the oysters were carried on inde- 
pendently of the soundings, thus saving the sounding party the an- 
noying interruptions commonly experienced in work of this charac- 
ter. The plan adopted was a distinct gain in speed and accuracy. 
When the sounding pole or chain indicated a bed of any importance, 
the officer in charge of the sounding party, usuallj^ without stopping 
the boat, erected a flag flying the number of the nearest sextant sta- 
tion, noting the exact time in the sounding book. From these data 

a Report of a survey of the oyster regions of St. Vincent Sound, Apalachicola 
Bay. and St. George Sound. Florida, by Franklin Swift Kept. U. S. Fish Com. 
1896 (1897), p. 191. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 9 

it was possible to j)lot the position within a few yards. The biolo- 
gist, following in a small boat, occupied these flag stations, system- 
atically selecting at each, from soundings, a characteristic area. 
P^our steel-shod pikes were thrust into the bottom, marking out an 
area 5 yards long and 1 yard wide, and everything on the bottom — 
oysters, shells, and debris — was carefully tonged and examined. At 
each such station the following data were taken : The number of oys- 
ters under 1 inch in length, between 1 and 3 inches, and over 3 
inches, respectively; the number or quantity of dead shells; the 
shape, quality, and general condition of the oysters; and the species 
of other animals and plants found. An examination of the entire 
bed was then made in order to ascertain its general character, shape, 
and approximate area, and the bottom was probed Avith steel-shod 
lengths of iron pipe in order to ascertain the nature and depth of the 
substratum. On the smaller beds one or two such examinations were 
sufficient, but on the larger and more important ones a number of 
stations were occupied. Full notes were made, and the result is a 
complete and accurate record of the character of each bed at the time 
of the survey in a form to be readily available for comparison with 
future surveys, thus making possible a history of the beds showing 
the effects of the fisheries and of the physical and biological vicissi- 
tudes to which they may be in future subjected. 

The observations on the density and temperature of the water were 
made by the sounding party at intervals of about 1 mile, in each case 
the position of the boat being fixed by sextant observations. The 
water was collected at a uniform distance of 14 inches above the bot- 
tom by means of a stoppered bottle lashed to a pole, the cork being 
withdrawn by a cord while the bottle rested on the bottom. A speci- 
men of the water from each station was retained for examination as 
to food value, while the density and temperature were noted at 
once and entered in the sounding book. During the entire term of 
the survey a series of tridaily observations of the density and temper- 
ature of the water were made at the anchorage of the Fish Hawk. 
These are useful for purposes of comparison and by illustrating 
the rapid fluctuations due to meteorological conditions. 

The tide gauge was established at Matagorda, a geographically 
central location, where observations were continued from January 
20 to May 11, inclusive. A description of the tide gauge, bench mark, 
and the plane of reference adopted will be given in the chapter treat- 
ing of the tides. 

Upon arrival in Matagorda Baj^, December 12, the Fish Hawk 
anchored off Palacios, but soon after she was moved up to an anchor- 
age about 4 miles below Dog Island Reef. Here she remained until 
a few days before the conclusion of the survey, when she dropped 
farther down the bay. As the upper part of the bay is much too shoal 



1 ( ) OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

for the Fish IIawk''s draft, it was necessary to obtain another vessel 
for transporting the materials and to serve as quarters for the field 
party. For several weeks a local schooner was employed ; but she was 
ill-adapted to house the party during the cold weather, and the 
three-masted schooner Mathilda was chartered and used until the 
survey reached Dog Island Reef, after which the work was carried 
on entirely from the Fiah Hawk. 

Until February 2G the party was engaged in erecting and cutting 
in signals. On that date the work of the survey proper was begun, 
first from the Mathilda alone, but about a week later with the assist- 
ance of a party from the Fish Hawk. There were assigned to the 
Mathilda a mate and five men from the Fish Hawk., and a civilian 
staff consisting of two observers and a biologist. This party carried 
on all of the offshore soundings and the shore work thi-oughout the 
survey, and it is a pleasure to recall the zeal with which they ful- 
filled their duties and the good nature with which they faced the many 
discomforts. There was much cold and boisterous weather, northers 
were frequent, and the Avork was continued many days when it 
seemed that the launch could barely live in the seas. The launch 
party consisted of helmsman, two observers, pole man, recorder, and 
machinist.. The helmsman, besides being responsible for the course of 
the launch, kept his hand on the sounding chain and reported the 
presence of oysters. In addition to the sextant work, one of the ob- 
servers had general charge of the boat and the planting of flags, and 
the other attended to the density and temperature observations and 
the collection of water specimens for biological analysis. The re- 
corder marked the time and recorded all observations except the 
angles, which were kept by the observer in charge and duly entered 
in the sounding book each night. The pole man sounded continu- 
ously, and the results were recorded at 15-second intervals. Owing 
to the fact that the launch and all its contents were usually drenched 
Avith spray, as well as to the lack of room, no boat sheet was carried, 
but each day the work of the day preceding was j^latted and brought 
up to date. The use of flags and ranges insured the rectification of 
the lines. 

The party from the Fish Hawk was given the task of delimiting the 
large reefs from Dog Island to Half Moon, inclusive. The results 
of their work appear on the chart accompanying this report. 

DESCRIPTION OF MATAGORDA BAY. 

LOCATION. 

Matagorda Bay is about midway of the Texas coast, rather nearer 
the eastern than the western limits of the state. As is characteristic 
in general of the sounds of this coast, the greatest length of the bay 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. . 11 

lies in the direction of the coastal trend, and its waters are separated 
from those of the gulf merely by a narrow sandy peninsula, which 
the erosion of storms periodically converts into an island. Pass 
Cavallo, the entrance to the bay, about 125 miles southwest of Gal- 
veston, lies at the extreme southwestern corner, and carries in its 
channel a depth of about 10^ feet at extreme low water. At the time 
of the survey this was the only direct communication between the 
waters of the bay and the gulf, but prior to the summer of 1904, 
when it finally closed, Mitchells Cut, an opening of widely fluctuat- 
ing depth and width, admitted salt water to the extreme upper part 
of the bay, and in the spring of 1905 an effort was being made, in the 
interest of the oyster industry, to open a channel to salt water from 
the head of Browns Bayou. From Pass Cavallo to the head of the 
bay is a distance of about 50 miles, and from the pass to Sand Point, 
at the mouth of Lavaca Bay, is about 13 miles. 

AREA AND SHORE LINE. 

The southwestern part of Matagorda Bay is about 12 miles wide, 
but at Palacios Point it abruptly narrows to about 4^ miles, with an 
average slightly less than this as far as Dressing Point, where there 
is another abrupt contraction to about 1^ miles thence to the head of 
the bay. The total area, exclusive of Lavaca, Karankaway, and 
Tres Palacios bays, which are contiguous to the wide southwestern 
part, is about 310 square miles, the area covered by the survey above 
the point of Half Moon Reef approximating about 140 square miles. 
The northwestern or prairie shore is almost unbroken, save at the 
mouths of the Colorado River and several creeks, but the peninsula 
littoral is extremely irregular, wath numerous muddy bayous, which, 
especially below Dog Island Reef, in many cases head at the foot of 
the sand dunes which skirt the outer coast. 

AFFLUENTS. 

The principal fresh- water affluent is the Colorado River, which rises 
on the borders of the Staked Plains and, draining a large basin 
along its course of from 700 to 800 miles, discharges above Dog 
Island, about 2 miles west of Matagorda. A considerable, if not the 
preponderating, flow now passes through Buffalo Bayou, close to the 
town, and the river's western mouth, shown on previous surveys, has 
become obliterated by the deposit of silt. Mad Island, Little Boggy, 
Big Boggy, Live Oak, and Caney creeks also at times carry considera- 
ble volumes of fresh water, the last-named stream entering the 
extreme head of the bay tlirough an artificial channel. It appears to 
have entirely lost its original direct connection with the gulf. 



12 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

DKl'TII AND ( II AKACTKH OF BOTTOM. 

The floor ol" the l)iiy is i)r:icti('ally level snve where hi'okeii hy the 
abrupt risin<; of an old reef or oyster lumj) al)o\'e the siiri-oniidin^ 
holtoni. Ill the area surveyed there is a irradual increase of water 
from the Hats at the liead of the bay to a (U^pth of about 5 feet near 
Dog Island Reef, while below I)o<2: Island the dei^th ranges from 
about 4 feet close to the reef to 14 feet, the deei)est Avater in the entire 
bay, abreast of Half Moon light. Throughout the length of the 
area surveyed tlie deepest water in general lies nearei- the peninsula 
than the prairie shore. 

Between ]\Iatagorda and Dog Island, across the existing and the 
former mouths of the Colorado River, there is now a muddy flat 
covered with snags, to Avhich the freshets of the Colorado make 
yearly accretions. 

CHANNELS. 

With the exception of Mad Island Reef, all the great oyster beds 
lying below the mouth of the Colorado River are traversed by one 
or more channels used by the oystermen. 

Palacios Point channel lies just on the edge of the oysters, between 
Half Moon Reef and Palacios Point. It is rather broad, and car- 
ries a depth of about 3 feet at low winter tide. It has been eroded 
since the preparation of the Coast Survey chart of the region. 

Mad Island channel, near the inner end of Shell Island Reef, is 
narrow and holds about 1^ feet of water at low tide. 

Shell Island channel lies immediately northwest of Shell Island, 
and has a serviceable width of about 20 feet and a low-w^ater depth 
of 2^ feet. 

Dog Island channel, formerly called Steves channel, is an artifi- 
cial cut southeast of Dog Island. It has a low-water depth of about 
2 feet at its western and 2| feet at its eastern end, Avith much deeper 
water between. The currents in this channel often run with great 
velocity, and sometimes for several days in one direction, under the 
influence of prevailing winds. 

Middle channel lies near the middle of Dog Island Reef. It was 
cut artificially about 1847, and reexcavated a decade or so later, but 
is now^ seldom used. It carries a depth not exceeding 1:^ feet at the 
low-water plane of reference adopted in this report. 

Tiger Island channel is at the southeastern end of Dog Island 
Reef. It is narrow-er and more tortuous than Dog Island channel, 
and the currents run through it with greater velocity. It has a 
depth of not more than 11 feet at winte-r low water. 

Dressing Point channel lies on the edge of the oyster beds betw^een 
Dressing Point shoal and the point of Dressing Island, and has a 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGOEDA BAY. 13 

low-water depth of 3 feet. Dressing Island was a peninsula at the 
time the Coast Survey topographic work was performed, but a chan- 
nel carrying 1^ feet into Live Oak Bay has since been eroded through 
its neck. 

Browns Cut is an uncompleted canal dug in the spring of 1905 
from the head of Browns Bayou nearly to the gulf shore. It is the 
intention of the projectors to continue this upon favorable oppor- 
tunity, so as to admit salt water to the head of the bay. Owing to 
the shifting character of the sands on the gulf coast it is doubtful, 
however, whether this channel can be maintained without constant 
work, as the tendency of the currents will be to pile up a sand bar 
at its inner end, which by checking the currents will probably eventu- 
ally result in the silting up of the cut. 

THE OYSTER BEDS. 

DENSITY OF OYSTER GROWTH. 

The oyster beds of Matagorda Bay above Half Moon light-house 
as developed by this survey comprise a total area of 3,111 acres, 
exclusive of shores and bayous. It must not be assumed, however, 
that this area is all oyster-bearing, for many of the scattering and 
very scattering beds consist of an aggregation of small patches 
separated by more or less extensive areas of barren bottom. In 
the region above Dressing Point, for instance, it is quite possible to 
find stretches of barren bottom within the limits of charted beds, 
but further investigation would show such barren bottom to be 
surrounded by more or less productive areas. 

Only the general extent of the beds is indicated on the accom- 
panying chart, and no attempt is made to show the position or the 
extent of the individual patches. Even were it practicable to find 
and locate with instruments each of these, it would be quite impos- 
sible as well as useless to plat and exhibit them on the chart. The 
chart is intended to show that over the broad area represented 
oysters will be found in an average density of growth indicated by 
the symbols adopted, but they may be dense in one place, scattering 
in another, and totally absent in a third. Three symbols are em- 
ployed, showing (1) very scattering growth, averaging less than 25 
barrels per acre; (2) scattering growth, averaging between 25 and 
100 barrels per acre, and (3) dense grow^th, indicating anything of 
an average productiveness of over 100 barrels per acre. These sym- 
bols apply solely to oysters 3 inches or more in length, this arbitrary 
standard having beeen selected as a minimum size of marketable 
oyster. Practically, however, manj^ of these small oysters, owing to 
their inferior shape, are economically worthless until they have 
attained further growth. 



14 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 



The abseiuv or presence, both relatively .uul actually, of oysters 
under 3 inches long is entirely disregarded in estimating the 
density of the beds, and it may therefore happen that an abundant 
growth of young may be shown on the chart as a scattering or very 
scattering area of adults. Such cases may be detected, however, by 
consulting the text description of the bed in (question, or by reference 
to the following table, which shows the numbers per square yard 
of oysters of each of three sizes as determined from actual observa- 
tions and counts on the several beds. 

This table shows also the area in acres of the bed as platted on 
the chart, the proportion of such area estimated to actually bear 
oysters of the indicated density, and the estimated total contents 
in barrels of marketable (3-inch) oysters on each bed. For the latter 
only an approximate accuracy is claimed, the factors entering into 
it being somewhat difficult to determine; the size, shape, and char- 
acter of the oysters, their density, the shape and size of the clusters, 
together with irregularities in distribution, have to be taken into con- 
sideration. The estimates in all cases are believed to be conservative, 
rather under than over the productiveness of the beds. For the pur- 
pose of this report and specifically in the following table, a barrel of 
ovsters is considered to contain 2 bushels. 



Density of Oyster Growth on Charted Areas. 



Name of bed. 


Observed number of oysters 
per square yard. 


Area in 
acres. 


Estimated 
per cent 
of area 
actually 
bearing 
oysters. 


Estimated 
contents 
in barrels 
of oysters 
over 3 in. 
long. 




Overs 
inches. 


3 inches 
to 1 inch. 


Under 
1 inch. 




14 

13 

15 

4 

50 

48 

135 

9 

55 

182 

163 

90 

67 

84 

6 
83 
24 
32 


8 

8 

26 

3 




395 

228 

477 

90 

13 

23 

10 

37 

2 

5 

12 

80 

36 

32 

113 
142 
139 
538 


15 
30 
40 
75 
80 
30 
60 
20 
100 
100 
90 
90 
100 
100 

80 
100 
30 
30 


5,000 




1 
4 

1 


5, 250 




26,000 


Creek Patches .'. 


1,000 




4,700 


East Point Bed ... 


10 

63 

2 

51 
52 
176 
112 
60 
47 

33 
36 
9 

21 




6,400 


Middle Patches 


15 


12,000 


Idlebach Flats 


1,000 




10 
29 
34 
147 
41 
51 

16 

30 

5 

9 


1.000 




11,000 




8, .500 




45,000 


Boiler Bayou Reef 


25,000 




30,000 


Dog Island Reef: 

North end 


2,200 




145, WO 


Near Tiger Island 6 


13,000 


West side 


18,000 








:::::::::::::;:;;; 








Forked Bavou Reef 

Shell Island Reef: 

East side 


31 

106 

28 

42 
16 

1 
35 
2 


20 

57 
51 

24 
34 


10 

13 
16 

4 
2 


4 

25 
120 

23 
70 

56 
87 
176 
175 


100 

100 
60 

100 
50 

100 
75 
100 


1,500 

35,000 
7,500 


Mad Island Reef: 


9,000 


West side 


2,500 


Half Moon Reef: 


1,000 




8 


3 


2.5,000 




4,400 






















Total 








3,108 




445,900 















Not examined in detail 



" Partially fished out. 



Thoroughly fished out. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 15 

TYPES OF OYSTER BEDS. 

These beds may be divided into three general types — (1) long 
reefs consisting of extensive long, narrow shell beds surmounted by 
oysters, running at right angles to the currents and with marked 
shoaling of the water over their crests; (2) short reefs and lumps 
consisting of small deep shell beds bearing oysters, with usually no 
great disparity between their long and short axes, and also marked 
by abruptly shoaling water; (3) flat beds and patches without ex- 
tensive deposits of shells, over which the depth varies but slightly 
from that over the surrounding bottom. 

LONG REEFS. 

The long reefs are confined entirely to that portion of the bay 
lying below the mouth of the Colorado River, and judged by their 
size and structure they are undoubtedly the beds of greatest age. 
With the exception of Dog Island Reef, which forms a practically 
complete bulkhead, 'they all begin at or near the northwest shore and 
end in the deeper water toward the middle of the bay. Dog Island 
Reef probably originated in the same Avay, and its present condition 
is but a completed or more matured stage of development. The 
stiff, waxy, prairie loam which forms the inland shore is better 
adapted to the support of cultch than is the sand of the gulf side of 
the bay, which is more or less subject to shifting under the influence 
of the storms and winds which sweep over the sandy peninsula. 
Shells or other bodies lodging in the shallow water near the prairie 
shore are therefore preserved for a longer period in a condition 
favorable for the attachment of the minute floating fry of the 
oysters, and once established the infant bed tends to grow by yearly 
accretions. After the bed has become fairly established and begins 
to rear its crest above the bottom, the tendency is toward the pre- 
ponderance of growth at its outer end, where the currents sweep 
most strongly and more perfectly clean the oysters and shells of all 
deposits of mud and silt which would operate to stifle the tiny spat. 

It will be observed from an inspection of the chart that each of 
these reefs has its long axis at right angles to the set of the currents. 
Above Palacios Point the currents run generally in the direction of 
the length of the bay, and Mad Island, Shell Island, and Dog Island 
reefs therefore lie almost transversely to the parallel shore lines ; but 
at Palacios Point the bay abruptly widens, the currents describe 
more or less of an arc with the point as the center, and Half Moon 
reef has grown along that radius to which the flow of greatest velocity 
is related as a tangent. In other words, the reefs have followed the 
usual law of development, growing most rapidly toward the strongest 
current and less rapidly along their sides, where the currents slacken 
16354—07 M 2 



10 OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. 

iuid eddy and avIumc. therefore, the deposit of mud and silt more speed- 
ily en<ji:ulfs the shells and rciidors them ill adapted to the attachment 
of spat. 

In other characters, also, the long reefs present general features of 
resemblance to one another. Each has a crest or backbone, awash 
or nearly awash at low water, running from end to end. The n)argin 
of the bed facing up the bay is comparatively close to this crest, ab- 
rupt in its rise from the bottom and contimious in its contour, while 
the oi)])osite margin is farther removed from the crest, merging more 
gradually with the adjacent barren bottom and broken up into long 
projecting ridges or spurs separated by narrow, muddy indentations 
and sloughs. In all of these reefs, also, the upper side is the only one 
r^^sorted to by the oystermen, as there only are large oysters of good 
quality to be found in quantities sufficient to make remunerative 
tonging. On the lower sides of the reefs not only is the density of all 
sizes of OA'sters less, but among those that are found there is a prepon- 
derance of small ones, and all are inferior in fatness to those just 
across the crest. 

At first thought it might seem that the proportionately large num- 
ber of small oysters on the lower sides of these reefs was due to a 
more abundant set of spat, but this assumption is speedily invali- 
dated by the fact that the total number of oysters there is undoubt- 
edly less than on the opposite side, notwithstanding that none are 
removed by the oystermen. The evidence shows, therefore, that the 
set of spat is actually less than on the upper side, and the prepon- 
derance of small oysters is due solely to deficiency of growth. From 
these facts it is apparent that the conditions on the " up-the-bay " 
margins are superior as regards both the set of spat and the supply 
of food, but the exact nature of the difference is difficult to deter- 
mine from actual observation. On theoretical grounds, however, it 
would appear to be dependent upon the set of the currents, for it is 
a general condition of oyster growth that, other things being equal, 
the set of spat, the rate of growth, and the production of fat are 
greatest in those parts of reefs where the water flows with great- 
est velocity. It can be assumed that in the presence of the great 
bodies of spawning oysters which these reefs furnish the distribution 
of sAvimming fry must be so general as to be practicalh' uniform 
everywhere in their vicinity ; that the food value of the water on the 
different sides of the reef is essentially uniform was determined by 
actual observations, as exhibited in the table (p. 73) incorporated in 
the section of this report treating specifically with that subject. As 
to the matter of currents, however, what are the actual conditions? 

In the discussion of the currents of Matagorda Bay subsequently 
given in this report will be found the statement that the pre- 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 17 

ponderating set is toward the mouth of the bay, a condition neces- 
sarily imposed by the discharge of fresh water from the several 
streams. If there were no tributary streams, the currents would 
be strictly conditioned b}^ the ebb and flow of the tides, and, neglect- 
ing the small factors of evaporation and seepage, their volumes would 
be equal in the two directions; but the Colorado and its sister 
streams drain vast areas of the country, discharging a volume of 
water which relatively to the cross section of the bay is very con- 
siderable, and as essentially all of this water finds its way into the 
gulf through Pass Cavallo, the downward currents must conse- 
quently be stronger than those flowing toward the head of the bay. 
This gives the upper margins of the reefs a decided advantage in 
the matter of conditions favorable to spat fixation and the growing 
and fattening of the oysters, inasmuch as the cultch is kept cleaner 
and more food is carried within the reach of the oysters setting on it. 
It also appears reasonable to invoke the current characteristics as 
an explanation of some of the physical peculiarities of the long reefs, 
especially that diversity which occurs between the two sides. The 
water of the Colorado River, which, especially in times of freshet, 
is heavily charged with mud, flows into the bay just above Dog 
Island Reef. As it spreads out after leaving the channel, its velocity 
is promptly checked and the coarser and heavier particles of sand 
and mud are deposited to produce a fan-shaped shoal surrounding 
the mouths of the river and Buffalo Bayou, while the finer particles 
remain in suspension. At high water, when the crest of the reef 
is covered, the outward flow of the bottom stratum of this water 
is largely checked by the barrier of Dog Island Reef and some part 
of the suspended matter is thrown down on the bottom close to the 
reef as silt, while over the crest there is flowing a current of sufficient 
velocity to keep the top of the upstream portion of the reef cleanly 
scoured and in condition to receive fresh accretions of young oysters. 
As the crest of the reef is crossed, the velocity is again lessened by 
reason of the larger cross section of its available channel in deeper 
water, and there is a deposit of silt upon the downstream side of the 
bed, rendering it less adapted to a set of spat. Wlien the level of 
the water is below the crest of the reef, a generally similar result is 
brought about by somewhat different means. Then the entire dis- 
charge passes through the several channels by which the reef crest 
is traversed, especially those at Dog and Tiger islands. There is a 
current of varying strength running lengthwise of the northeast 
side of the reef and a swift current through the channels, but as 
soon as it passes the barrier the silt-laden water spreads out and 
eddies after leaving the channels, and there is again a tendency to 
the deposit of mud. 



18 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGOKDA BAY. 

When the tidal currents are reversed and the flow is running up 
the bay the conditions of silt de])osit also are reversed, and were it 
not for two important factors there would result a general similarity 
rather than a marked diversity in the aspects of the two sides of the 
reefs. As has already been stated, the average velocity of the in- 
flowing current must, from the relative positions of the stream 
mouths and the mouth of the bay, be less than that of the out- 
flowing, and it is therefore physically unable to take up and return 
nmch of the material carried down and de^wsited by the latter. In 
the second place, and entirely independent of the previous considera- 
tion, the water in the lower bay, coming in large part from the sea, 
is clearer than that above Dog Island. The streams are the main 
sources of silt. This is gradually deposited in the course of the 
water toward the sea, and, once deposited, would require a higher 
velocity of current to pick it up again than sufficed to carry it 
originally. 

In the light of this preliminary understanding of the action of the 
currents and the local distribution of the silt deposits, let us examine 
the eifect upon that growth of oysters which fixes the final character- 
istics of the beds. Upon the " up-the-bay " side of the reef we find a 
deposit of silt from the more stagnant bottom strata of water inhib- 
iting a set of spat at the foot of the barrier while at the same time, 
the flowing surface water is exerting a scouring action on the top of 
the reef northeast of the crest. The preponderance of oyster growth 
is therefore at the top of the reef and toward the upper margin of 
that side, with the result that the margin in question tends to main- 
tain a uniform outline and an abrupt face. The crest itself lies 
closer to the northeast margin, because it, too, tends to grow in that 
direction from the same causes — the superior scouring action and food- 
carrying capacity of the currents on that side of the reef. It can 
never grow to a level much above the low-water plane, because as it 
rises above that level the oysters are each year killed by exposure to 
the air for long periods during the low water prevalent in the winter 
months. On the opposite side of the reef, as we have seen, the condi- 
tions are essentially different. Immecliatel}^ upon crossing the crest 
the outflowing water begins to deposit silt, which falls most abund- 
antly in the lower levels between the oyster clusters, and the latter 
soon become, therefore, the only places on that side of the reef pre- 
senting conditions inviting a new set. Wave action, too, being more 
energetic near the surface, tends to scour those areas raised somewhat 
above the bottom, especially those surfaces looking toward the mar- 
gin of the reef, and silt thus washed away is likewise thrown down 
in the neighboring pools and crevices. The result is that the original 
oyster clusters having this advantage graduallv gi'ow into clumps, 
and these, by virtue of the greater cleanliness of their outer ends 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 19 

more exposed to the waves, eventually develop into tonguelike 
ridges at right angles to the general trend of the reef, with muddy 
silted sloughs between them. 

In the discussion thus far, particular consideration has been given 
to Dog Island Reef, where the conditions are most marked, but the 
statements will apply with gradually decreasing force to the reefs 
below. By virtue of its proximity to Dog Island channel, which acts 
in relation to it much as the Colorado does to Dog Island Reef, 
Shell Island Reef presents the same characters, though less marked, 
the upper margin being abrupt, and the spurs and sloughs on the 
opposite side of the crest being relatively shorter and less differen- 
tiated. Mad Island Reef being shorter, there is a wider avenue for 
the passage of currents around its end. The channel at the inner 
end of Shell Island is not so large, and therefore discharges less 
water to impinge on the reef below, and finally the w^ater, by the 
time it reaches this reef, has had an opportunity to deposit no incon- 
siderable part of its. silt, all of which factors still further reduce the 
formation of spurs on the lower side of the reef. At Half Moon 
Reef the lower margin is almost entire, but the conditions are still 
such, by virtue of the preponderating current velocity from the 
upper bay, that the crest maintains its proximity to the eastern face, 
and the oysters are better, larger, and more abundant on that side. 
From Dog Island Reef to Half Moon Reef there is therefore a 
gradual transition in correspondence with the waning influence of 
the conditions above indicated. 

SHORT REEFS AND LUMPS. 

The short reefs, or " lumps," as they are usually called, are found 
principally in the upper part of the bay, though there are a few^ 
below Dog Island Reef. They are simply old oyster beds in which 
the growth is localized, and as a rule they are developed in those 
places where the currents are less marked than they are below the 
mouth of the Colorado River. They rise from soft muddy bottoms, 
which tends to restrict their expansion laterally, and their growth is 
principally at the top. They often consist of dense bodies of rac- 
coon oysters. 

FLAT BEDS AND PATCHES. 

The patches or flat beds are confined to that part of the bay above 
the vicinity of Dressing Point. They are relatively young, and in 
many cases their origin can be traced to artificial causes, the culling 
and throwing overboard of shells and young oysters from boats on 
their way to market. Many of them formerly produced oysters of 
excellent quality, and under proper density conditions this phase of 
their history would undoubtedly be repeated. 



20 OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY, 

PRINCIPAL OYSTER BEDS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 
IIALI' MOON KKKI'. 

Tliis. the westernmost limit of the survey, is an economically im- 
portant reef, setting in a generally southwesterly direction from 
Palacios Point to and beyond Half Moon light. It has a total length 
of about 5,200 yards and an average width of about 500 yards, em- 
bracing an area of approximately' 494 acres. Between its inner end 
and Palacios Point there is an area of soft mud, with a width of from 
800 to 500 yards and a depth increasing from about li feet close to 
shore to upward of 3| feet at low water on and for a short distance 
beyond the edge of the oyster bed. This deeper water constitutes 
Palacios Point channel, much used by boats plying to and fro be- 
tween the upper bay and the town of Palacios. Stretching prac- 
tically the entire length of the reef, with here and there an interrup- 
tion, there is a backbone of shells and oysters lying in a depth of 
less than 1 foot at the mean low water of winter. Surrounding the 
light there is a depth of about 4 feet, shoaling rapidh' on each side. 
The shoal crest is nearer the southeast side of the reef, and, as in the 
other long reefs hereafter described, the slope is relatively sharp in 
that direction, although, excepting the extreme end, there is not so 
abrupt a rise at the margin as on Dog Island, Shell Island, and Mad 
Island reefs. 

Excepting at the two ends, wdiere the edges of the bed lie in about 
3| feet of water, the limit of oyster growth is generalh' in a depth 
close to 1 fathom. The reef is growing comparativeh' rapidly at 
its outer end, and it now extends from 400 to 500 3^ards farther 
toward the southeast than it did when the hydrograj^hy of the Coast 
Survey was executed. That it is a very old reef is shown b}' the 
depth from which it rises and by the results of probings through an 
almost impenetrable mass of shells and compacted fragments at least 
3 or 4 feet in thickness. As in the cases of the other beds of the 
region, it began by the fixation of a few oysters to some firm for- 
eign body lying in mud of a consistency similar to that now sur- 
rounding it, and upon the shells so grown successive generations set 
until the whole area became covered and the level was gradualh' 
raised higher and higher above the normal bottom. It is still build- 
ing up, and, as stated, comparison with the previous survey shows that 
its horizontal dimensions, and particularly its length, are increasing 
with comparative rapidity. 

According to local witnesses its productiveness ha luctuated 
greatly, more or less long periods of barrenness having been succeeded 
by periods of rejuvenescence and fecundity. Local authorities state 
that there were no oysters on it in 1895 and for several years thereaf- 
ter, but about 1900 there was a heavy set of spat which grew to market- 



Plate II. 




1. OYSTERS FROM HALF MOON REEF, 



SHOWING 
Reduced 



'RED GRASS" (EGG-CASES OF PURPURA). 




OYSTERS FROM HALF MOON REEF, SHOWING PITS AND CHAMBERS OF BORING CLAM 
(MARTESIA). Reduced *. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 2l 

able size about 1902, since which year it has been fished each season. 
During at least a part of the season of 1904-5 it was the most ex- 
tensively tonged bed in Matagorda Bay, about 50 boats being con- 
stantly at work on it during November and December. Apparently 
there has been no heavy set of spat in recent years, and the area 
which has been most extensively worked during the past two or 
three seasons is showing distinct indications of such exhaustion that 
unless soon replenished with a young growth it will speedily again 
become barren. At the inner end, in the area shown on the chart as 
a very scattering growth, a number of boats operated early in the 
season, but when this portion was examined in the latter part of 
April there was practically no young growth and an average of but 
one adult oyster per square yard. This part of the bed covers about 56 
acres and was estimated to contain but approximately 1,000 barrels 
of oysters, about 18 barrels per acre. Between 300 and 800 yards 
shoreward of the light the same conditions obtain, there being an 
average of but two adults per square yard. The oysters in both of 
these localities are almost without exception large, single, and of 
good shape. Beyond the light the growth is sparse, and no fishing is 
done there. Of the very scattering oysters on the outer third of the 
reef it is estimated that there are about 4,400 barrels, covering an area 
of 176 acres. 

The densest area at the time the reef was examined lay on the 
southeast side of the crest between 800 and 3,500 yards from shore, 
on which there were per square yard 35 oysters over and 11 under 3 
inches in length. On this section there were estimated to be in 
April, 1905, about 30,000 barrels of adult oysters, covering an area 
of 87 acres. This area had been rather thoroughly fished during the 
season, and in places had been almost " cleaned up," leaving ])ut a 
scattered growth. The oysters are good in size, shape, and quality. 
Many of them, especially in areas which have been tonged. are single, 
shapely individuals, but in the parts less extensively worked they are 
large, clustered, and more elongate. They are best near the margin 
of the reef. 

The part of the reef lying northwest of the crest was not examined 
in detail, but general observation showed it to possess the same rel- 
ative characters as the corresponding portions of the other long reefs 
hereinafter described. There is a scattering growth of poor, small 
oysters, covering an area of about 175 acres. 

The shells of oysters from Half Moon Reef are characterized by 
abundant pits and chambers excavated by the boring clam, a more 
detailed account of which will be found in the section of this report 
dealing with oyster enemies. The yellow boring sponge, which honey- 
combs the shells with its galleries, is also abundant; there is a sparse 
growth of mussels, and in April, 1905, many of the shells bore clusters 



22 OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. 

of tho rod egg cases of the so-called borer, Piirpma. These cases are 
often referred to by the oystermen as " red grass." The dniinfish is 
said to be destructive at times. 

One of the chief characteristics of the oyster growth is the scarcity 
of young oysters. This is a serious matter, and indicates an ap- 
proaching period of unproductiveness unless there is a speedy change 
for the better. 

MAD ISLAND REEF. 

This is the smallest of the Matagorda Bay " long reefs." It 
stretches in a generally' southeasterly direction for a distance of about 
2,000 yards from the north shore at Mad Island West signal, with 
an average width of about 300 yards and an area of about 93 acres 
exclusive of the exposed crest, which extends for practically its 
entire length. Apparently this reef has not grown at its offshore 
end as have Half Moon and Shell Island reefs, a fact that may be 
explicable on the assumption, based on local reports, of its periodical 
destruction. It is known that on at least one occasion, about 185)6 or 
1897, it was almost if not entirely destroyed by fresh water, grass, 
sand, and debris carried upon it by a freshet in the drainage basin of 
Mad Island Lake, and it is stated that similar disasters had before 
visited it. After an interval of several years it became reseeded by a 
heavy set of spat, and during the season of 1904-5 the oysters became 
marketable and were in considerable demand at Matagorda. The reef 
lies on a deep, dense bed of shells, compacted with fragments and 
sand, lying on a foot or two of soft mud, which in turn is underlaid 
by hard mud. The margin of the bed lies in a depth of about 1| 
feet of water at the shore, with gradually increasing depth to 5 feet 
offshore. The crest, which is close to the eastern margin, is more or 
less covered with a growth of raccoon oysters, and at its inner end 
has an elevation of 6 or 8 inches above the low-water plane adopted 
in this report. The eastern margin is well defined and continuous, 
and it is near this limit only, over an area of about 23 acres, that mar- 
ketable oysters are found. There was in April, 1905, on the reef east 
of the crest, an average per square yard of about 42 adult oysters and 
28 small ones, and from these data it is estimated that there were at 
that time approximately 9,000 barrels of marketable oysters. Both 
young and adults had well-shaped, clean, thin shells and the market- 
able stock was of good size and flavor, with a considerable proportion 
of single oysters and few clusters of more than 3 or 4 individuals. 
The preponderance of single oysters and small clusters is directly 
attributable to tonging, a number of boats having operated on this 
part of the reef during the season preceding. 

On that part of the reef lying west of the crest the conditions are 
quite different. The area is much larger, about TO acres, and the 
reef slopes gradually away from the crest to a more or less indented 



Plate III. 




1. HALF MOON REEF OYSTERS, Reduced 



^,^^;--^>>^^ m 


^^^^^^^1 




^^IP^ 


1 '^- '.^?^S 


r 


^^^H^^^ ''^'''^' 


'^^T^M 




'S^'^^M 




li^ 


^^ m^^ 


§BBi^,y.,;-y^ ;^^ 


f^^^H 






\m 


m^ 


^ igpii' ^•- 


^ 


m^ , 



2. MAD ISLAND REEF OYSTERS. Reduced ^'g. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 23 

margin, not shown in all its detail on the chart. The oysters are 
smaller than on the eastern side and their density is less, the diifer- 
ence being especially noticeable in the larger stock. Of oysters \mder 
3 inches in length there are about 36 per square yard, while those 3 
inches or over number but 16 and most of these barely exceed the 
size limit set, while on the eastern side the adults average over 4 
inches. To the westward of the crest the oysters are not only poor 
in size and shape, but inferior in quality. As it is to be assumed that 
the entire reef was reseeded at about the same time, the diversity 
betw^een the two sides must be due to diversity in conditions, more 
especially as regards the food supply. It is estimated that the west 
side of Mad Island Reef contained in April, 1905, a total of about 
2,500 barrels of oysters about 3 inches in length, and practically all 
of these were W'Orthless for the market. 

There are several small patches or lumps near Mad Island and 
Shell Island reefs, but they were too small to plot satisfactorily. 

SHELL ISLAND REEF. 

This is a long, narrow reef extending from about one-fourth mile 
outside of Shell Island nearly to the north shore at Mad Island sig- 
nal. It has a length of about 1^ miles, an average width of about 
250 yards, and an area of about 145 acres. In its general features it 
is but a smaller copy of Dog Island Reef, and in the course of time 
it will eventually form a barrier extending practically across the bay, 
there being evidence that it has increased about 500 yards in length 
during the past fifty years or less. A crest exposed during low winter 
tides runs the entire length of the reef, interrupted at a point about 
100 yards north of Shell Island, where there is a channel about 20 feet 
wide carrying about 2^ feet of water at low tide, and again near the 
shore end, where there is a wider channel with about the same depth. 
The crest has an average width of 40 yards and bears a scattered 
growth of oysters of raccoon type. 

The two sides of the reef present the same diversity observed in 
the other long reefs of the vicinity, the eastern side being productive, 
while the western side is commercially almost worthless. The east- 
ern margin of the reef is regular in contour and lies close to the 
crest, the w^ater therefore shoaling abruptly. On Shell Island Reef 
the productive area includes the entire southern part outside of 
Shell Island Channel and extends well up the eastern side, becoming 
less important as the w^ater shoals toward the shore. This eastern strip 
is very narrow^ and the total area of dense growth as shown on the 
chart is only about 25 acres. Examinations indicated a density over 
this area of about 106 adult and 70 young per square yard, and the 
total of adult oysters is estimated at 35,000 barrels, an average den- 
sity of about 1,400 per acre. It is possible that this estimate is some- 



24 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

what too high owing to the fewer large oysters fonnd on the nortli- 
ern i)art of the eastern side. The density of growth is greatest near 
the margin of the reef and becomes less as the crest is approached. 
A feAv boats fished on the j^roductive area during the season of 1904—5, 
but the bed has been resorted to but little since . 11)02-3, when it 
was more or less depleted by the oystermen. The present supply has 
been growing since then. It is reported that ten years ago it yielded 
an annual output. 

The west side of the reef, though of much greater extent, is like 
the corresponding parts of the other long reefs of Matagorda — of 
practically no value commercially. It extends from Shell Island to 
within about 100 to 150 yards of the shore, with an average width of 
about 200 yards and a total area of approximately 120 acres. It is 
much indented on its western margin with projecting tongues of 
shelly oyster-bearing bottom separated by muddy bights and blind 
channels (not shown on the chart). The oyster-bearing bottom con- 
tains an average of 67 young oysters per square yard, practically the 
same number as on the productive area before described, but the num- 
ber of oysters over 3 inches long is only about one-fourth as great and 
the average size of the individuals is so much less as to make them 
practically useless for the markets. It is estimated that there are 
about 7,500 barrels of 3-inch oysters on this part of the reef, an 
average of 63 barrels per acre, excluding the muddy areas. The 
slope from the surrounding mud to the exposed crest is more gentle 
than on the eastern side. The oysters are generally of raccoon type 
and are never taken for the market. 

FORKED BAYOU REEF. 

This reef lies about one-half mile northwest of the mouth of 
Forked Bayou, is about 200 yards long and 100 yards wide, and has 
an area of about 4 acres. It is an old bed reposing on a mass of 
shells, has a depth of about 2 feet at low water on its crest, and 
rises from a surrounding depth of from 4^ to 6 feet. It is said 
to have been overwhelmed and partially destroyed by sand during 
the gale of 1875, a statement that is substantiated by the presence 
of a layer of sand about 1 foot below the present deposit of shells 
and oysters. Oystermen state that it has been fished more or less 
regularly for the past thirty years, and several boats were working on 
it at the time the survey was made. 

In April, 1905, this reef had an average density per square yard 
of 31 oysters over and 30 under 3 inches in length, both old and 
young being more abundant toward its eastern edge. Its total 
contents of marketable oysters are estimated at 1,500 barrels, an 
average of 375 barrels per acre. The adults are large (averaging 
from 4^ to 5 inches long) and broad, with clean shells of moderate 



Plate IV. 




1. OYSTERS FROM SHELL ISLAND REEF, Reduced 




2. OYSTER FROM FORKED BAYOU REEF, Reduced i. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 25 

thickness. The dusters are small and foreign growths scanty, 
though a few shells showed the marks of Mcvrtesia., the boring clam, 
which is so abundant on Half Moon Reef. On April 18 some of 
the oysters were spawning. 

The flavor, shape, and general condition of these oysters was excel- 
lent, this being due in part to the persistent tonging on the reef 
year after year and in part to the extraordinary abundance of food, 
which is mentioned in the part of this report dealing with that 
feature of the survey. 

DOG ISLAND REEF. 

Dog Island Reef is the largest and, with Half Moon Reef, eco- 
nomically the most important bed of Matagorda Bay. With the ex- 
ception of several narrow channels it forms at low water a complete 
barrier, stretching from shore to shore a distance of about 2>\ miles, 
with an average width of about 800 yards, and comprises within 
its limits an area of about 932 acres, exclusive of the crest which 
is exposed at low water. Its southeastern end is frequently referred 
to as " Tiger Island Reef," but as the growth is absolutely continuous 
from shore to shore, the one name is adhered to in this report. 

The reef is a very old one, as may be inferred from its dimen- 
sions, and its core consists of a mass of shells impenetrable to the 
steel-shod probe. Excepting where interrupted by the channels this 
core extends to the very crest of the reef, where it is covered by a 
sparse growth of racoon oysters, which, owing to the prolonged expo- 
sures to the air during the low tides of winter, is annually almost ex- 
terminated and added to the accumulation already existing. This 
crest, built up by oyster growth and the mud and broken shells 
thrown up by the waves, extends from within 200 yards of Dog 
Island to within about the same distance of Tiger Island with but 
one important break, near the middle, where a channel has been cut. 
Its extreme width at low water is about 250 yards, but it is very 
irregular, with many patches which never go bare. The clustered 
oysters in all parts of the reef bear barnacles and a few mussels, 
but the latter are never in sufficient quantities to be detrimental. 
Oystering up to the present time has been almost entirely confined 
to the vicinity of Tiger Island and the east side. The yield during 
the season 1904-5 can not be definitely stated, but it is probably not 
very far from 50,000 barrels. 

North end. — At the northern end of the reef, stretching from Dog 
Island channel almost to the shore, there is an area of about 113 
acres which, with the exception of a 7- foot hole near the point, is 
covered with two feet or less of water during winter low tides. The 
bottom consists of hard sand and shells with a somewhat greater 
preponderance of shells near the channel. Several sections indicate 



26 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

an average prv s(|iiare yard of oysters over and 49 under H inches in 
length. Of even the hirger size very few individuals are found 
which measure -'U from end to end and practically all of the smaller 
ones are between 1 and 2 inches, and the shells of all are more or 
less covered with barnacles and have a greenish coloration, indirectly 
due to their frequent exposure. This part of the reef is estimated to 
contain about 2,'200 barrels of oysters over 8 inches long, an average 
of only about 20 barrels per acre, which is therefore shown on the 
chart as a very scattering growth, though it is in reality a rather 
dense growth of small oysters. The shells of the larger oysters espe- 
cially are thick, indicating probably considerable age and slow 
growth. The bed is worthless for commercial purposes, though the 
oysters might be used for planting. 

East side. — The eastern margin of the reef is regular in contour 
and sharply defined, and the bed rises sharply from the adjoining 
muddy bottom to meet the exposed crest. For the purposes of this 
report, it is considered to extend on the eastern side of the crest for 
its entire distance, with a length of a little over 2^ miles and an 
everage width of 100 yards in the northern and 200 yards in the 
southern half. At the extreme edge of the reef the depth is from 
2i to 3| feet, rapidly decreasing toward the crest. 

There is a dense growth of good-sized oysters over the entire eastern 
side, though in places, especially toward the south end, it was more 
or less fished out during the season of 1904-5. A number of exami- 
nations indicate an average content per square yard of 83 oysters over 
3 inches and 66 under that length. It is estimated that this part of 
Dog Island reef probably had on it in April, 1905, about 145,000 
barrels of oysters of the larger size, a general average for the entire 
area of about 1,000 barrels per acre, exclusive of the young. In the 
northern half the density of both adults and young is greater, espe- 
cially the latter. Past the middle of the reef toward Tiger Island the 
adults are very much in preponderance. The diminished population 
of the southern half of the bed is directly traceable to the extensive 
oystering carried on there during the present and preceding seasons. 
It is said that the season of 1904-5 was the first in many years 
when the northern half of the reef had been w^orked, and many good 
oysters were obtained, especially near and in Dog Island channel. 
The product of the two localities differs in general character, the 
oysters of the northern part being in larger clusters and more elon- 
gate, wdiile single oysters of rounder shape are more frequent toward 
the southern end. The densest growth of both adults and young was 
found toward the middle, where the excess over the average was 
about 75 per cent. The quality of the oysters is good. 

South end. — This is commercially a very important part of the reef, 
wdiich for the purposes of this report is arbitrarily considered to in- 



Plate V. 




1. OYSTERS FROM DOG ISLAND REEF NEAR TIGER ISLAND. Reduced 3. 




2. OYSTERS FROM WEST SIDE OF DOG ISLAND REEF. Reduced i. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGOBDA BAY. 27 

elude those oyster beds lying between the southern end of the crest at 
Ring Island and the shores of Greek and Tiger islands, an area of 
about 139 acres. The oyster density here was determined to be, per 
square yard, about 24 oysters over and 14 under 3 inches in length. 
The contents in the middle of April, 1905, were estimated at about 
13,000 barrels, an average of approximately 90 barrels per acre, but it 
must be remembered tliat this was at the end of the oystering season, 
after many boats had been working for months. At the beginning of 
the season the contents were man}^ thousand barrels in excess of this 
estimate. This part of Dog Island Reef produces the best quality of 
oysters, and there is a ^preponderance of large, single individuals 4 
inches or more in length and of excellent shape, with the remainder 
of the stock in small clusters of two and three. This condition is, of 
course, largely due to the jDersistent oystering each season, which re- 
sults in the breaking up of the clusters which would be produced 
under purely natural conditions. In the western part of the area 
the oysters are somewhat more irregular and single oysters fewer. 
Here the bottom is softer, while closer to Tiger Island it is hard and 
shelly. Tiger Island channel flows through this area, and the cur- 
rents running there, augmenting the food supply, are undoubtedly 
responsible for the good condition of the oysters. It is stated by 
Captain Sterling, the local deputy fish commissioner, that prior to 
1867 there were no oysters on the Tiger Island end of Dog Island 
Reef, where the best and fattest oysters put on the market in 1904-5 
were obtained. 

South of the area just described there are 400 to 500 acres of scat- 
tering oysters, extending almost or quite to the south shore. It is 
understood that this is a private claim and has been planted. It was 
not examined in detail. About three- fourths of a mile west of Greek 
signal are two small, dense beds, shown on the chart, which also were 
not examined in detail. They are fished for the market, and are 
known as Sherman and Snapper banks, respectiveh". 

West side. — The west side of the reef, though covering a larger 
acreage than any of the other parts described, is economically of no 
importance and is never worked. It differs greatly in character from 
the east side. On the chart its southwest margin is shown as a rea- 
sonably continuous line, but in reality numerous tongues and bights 
of soft, muddy bottom, devoid of oysters, project into it, in many 
cases almost halfway to the crest, and these enormously decrease the 
oyster-bearing area, as shown. The slope from the margin to the 
crest is also more gradual, although some of the oyster-bearing ridges 
are rather abrupt at their outer ends. The oyster- bearing areas of 
this part of the reef, which it is estimated constitute about 30 per 
cent of that shown on the chart, have an average density per square 
yard of 32 oysters over and 30 under 3 inches long. The growth 



28 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

is more dense toward the north, gradually diminishing southward. 
The contents are estimated at about 18,000 barrels, an average density 
of 34 barrels per acre. 

The adults average barely 3^ inches long and the small oysters 
about 2 inches. The former are very hard-shelled and heavy, and 
bear every evidence of a stunted growth. 

SPRING BAYOU REEF. 

This is a compact bed about 900 yards long and 200 yards wide, 
containing about 82 acres, and lies between Fence and Greek signals 
and about two-thirds of a mile olT the mouth of Spring Bayou. It is 
an old bed, lying on a moderate thickness of old shells, but is probably 
of more recent origin than Boiler Bayou or Raymond Landing reefs. 
It is said to have produced good oysters several years ago and to 
have been worked during the season of 1902-3, l)ut not since then. 

The average catch per square yard was 84 oysters over and 98 un- 
der 3 inches long, and there were estimated to be on it at the time of 
examination about 30,000 barrels of the larger size, a density of about 
940 barrels to the acre. The adult oysters average a little over 4^ 
inches in length. About half the catch consisted of single or double 
oysters, the remainder being in clusters of moderate size, with mus- 
sels and some barnacles attached. Some of the larger clusters con- 
tained oysters of elongate form and considerable size, but on the 
whole the individuals were of much better shape than on either Boiler 
Bayou or Eaymond Landing reefs, and in fact than on any of the 
dense beds above Dog Island, with the single exception of Boggy 
Lump. It is not unlikely that this is due to the fact that the bed has 
been worked at a comparatively recent period, the clusters being thus 
more or less broken up and the younger oysters permitted to grow 
less subject to croAvding. It is noteworthy in this connection that the 
older clustered oysters more closely resemble the specimens of similar 
age on Boiler Bayou Reef, though perhaps averaging a trifle greater 
in transverse diameter. 

BOILER BAYOU REEFS. 

These beds lie about three- fourths of a mile off Fence signal. It is 
stated that they were " first known to the oystermen about eight years 
ago," but this should probabh^ be held to mean that they were not 
worked prior to that time. It is doubtful whether beds of this ex- 
tent rising so near to the surface at low water could have remained 
undiscovered, in view of their proximity to Matagorda and the fact 
that they lie in the course of boats bound to the upper part of the bay. 

Boiler Bayou Reefs, as developed by the survey, are three closely 
segregated beds, with areas of about 28, 7, and 1 acre, respectively. 
They all repose on dense masses of shells several feet in thickness, 



Plate VI. 




1, SPRING BAYOU REEF OYSTERS. Reduced 




2. BOILER BAYOU REEF OYSTERS. Reduced 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGOEDA BAY. 29 

through which it is almost impossible to thrust the probe to the 
uuderlying mud, and they have over their crests a depth of between 
2| and 3 feet at the mean low water of the winter months. The mar- 
gins of the reefs are very sharply defined, and the water shoals 
abruptly from a depth of 4| to 5 feet on the surrounding soft mud. 

The beds consist of densely packed clusters of adults and young, 
with, in some cases, a considerable growth of mussels. A detailed 
examination of several parts of the reefs indicated an average density 
per square yard of 67 oysters over the 3-inch limit and 101 under it. 
It is estimated that there are on these beds, which have a total area of 
36 acres, at least 25,000 barrels of oysters of the larger size, which 
average from 4^ to 6 inches in length with a considerable number 
reaching a length of or 10 inches. 

Taking them all in all, these adults are the longest and narrowest 
found in the bay, the extreme types of elongation being found in the 
center of the clusters, while the peripheral individuals, less subjected 
to the pressure of their fellows, are often broader and better shaped. 
Many small oysters, from three-eighths inch and upward, are found 
on the clusters and dead shells, and the beds are evidently prolific. On 
the northern edge of the reef the clusters are smaller and very irreg- 
ular and jagged. The flavor and condition of the oysters are inferior. 

It is stated that Boiler Bayou Reefs have not been fished for three 
or four years, a fact also indicated by the character of the growth. 
It is now difficult to tong owing to the close aggregation of the 
clusters. 

RAYMOND LANDING SHOALS. 

These beds as developed by the survey consist of thirteen lumps 
and patches ranging in area from about 1 to 23 acres. They lie nearly 
in the middle of the bay between Duncan and Fence signals and 
stretch in two series over a length of about 2 miles and a width of 
nearly two-thirds of a mile, the northwestern chain containing nine 
oj^ster-bearing areas and the southeastern series four. The total area 
is about*'50 acres, approximately equally distributed between the two 
chains, the acreage of the individual beds being generally of small 
extent, one containing 23 acres, one 13, three between 7 and 10, and 
the other eight less than 3 acres each. 

These beds are in most cases very old, lying on shell deposits sev- 
eral feet thick, but several of those in the western half of the northern 
chain are of more recent origin, and repose with but slight shoaling 
on the generally muddy bottom of this part of the bay. The general 
depth of the surrounding water is about 4 to 4^ feet, but on the 
crests of the older lumps there is but 1^ to 2f feet during the average 
low water of the winter months. While the crests of these beds are 
apparently not exposed during even the most extreme low tides, their 
position can often be readily seen by the dark color overlying them. 



30 OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. 

Raymond Landing Shoals arc impediments to the navigation of the 
bay, and the boatmen usually maintain stakes to mark their outside 
limits. 

A number of observations on the dense beds indicate an average 
])vv square yard of 00 oysters over 3 inches in lengtli, 112 between 1 
and 3 inches, and 147 under 1 inch. It is estimated that these beds 
contain approximately 45,000 bushels of oysters over the limit of 3 
inches, an average of about 500 bushels per acre. The production of 
small oysters, or at least the proportion of small to large oysters, is 
here far greater than on any other beds in the bay, and this is prac- 
tically the only place in which the product of spat — that is, oysters 
under 1 inch long — is numerically predominant. It is not at all 
unlikely that this preponderance may be in a measure due to slower 
growth, but it can not be denied that the opportunities for spat col- 
lection are excellent. Some shells bear as many as 50 infant oysters. 

The oysters are generally in dense clusters of from 3 to 6 adults 
and more than twice that number of young and spat. The larger 
individuals are long, narrow, and thin, averaging about 4^ inches in 
length, W'ith many considerably longer. They are generally poor in 
shape, condition, and flavor. In general they resemble those of 
Middle Patches, but are considerably larger than are found on Mid- 
dle Lump. The growth is so dense and the living oysters so strongly 
adherent to the underlying shell beds that tonging is extremely 
difficult. 

The oysters on Raymond Shoals, owing to their shape, are worthless 
for shell stock or shucking, but they could be utilized to advantage 
for canning, for which purpose the stock is opened by the aid of 
steam. In the event of their being used for this purpose there would 
be inevitably a great destruction of the young, which form an im- 
portant component of the clusters, but it is undoubted that anj'thing 
resulting in the judicious working of the beds would be of advantage. 
The oysters, as in others of the dense beds herein described, are now 
so closel}^ crowded that they can not grow to good shape, nor-' is there 
food enough in the surrounding water to supply the untold indi- 
viduals each with sufficient for its proper nourishment and the pro- 
duction of a desirable quality of meat. The beds are more or less 
overgrown with mussels. 

So far as could be learned. Ra^niiond Landing Shoals have never 
been worked, and it is probable that the inferior quality of their 
product is a characteristic of very long standing. 

KAINS AND CLEVELAND PATCHES. 

These are several very scattering growths of oysters lying between 
200 and 400 yards offshore, the former in the vicinity of Kains Land- 
ing and the latter off Cleveland Bayou, just east of Duncan signal, 



Plate VII. 




OYSTERS FROM RAYMOND LANDING SHOALS, SHOWING HEAVY SET OF SPAT. Reduced 



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2. BOGGY LUMP OYSTERS, Reduced 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 31 

A detailed examination showed an average of but very few o3^sters 
per square yard. It is understood that there are planted oysters in 
this vicinity, and it is not improbable that these are they, though there 
are no stakes or other marks which would clearly indicate that these 
are private beds. 

MIDDLE LUMP. 

Middle lump is a dense bed lying in the middle of the bay oppo- 
site North Base signal. It has a length of about 400 yards and a 
width of about 175 yards, with an area of about 12 acres. The bed 
is an old one, with a great depth of shells, rising to within about 2 
feet of the surface of the water from a surrounding depth on the 
soft mud of 4 to 4| feet. 

The clusters are generally of medium size, but composed of numer- 
ous closely crowded individuals averaging from 3 to 3J inches in 
length, with a somewhat greater number of smaller oysters. Sec- 
tions examined showed a density of 163 of the larger and 210 of the 
smaller individuals per square yard. The clusters were so densely 
crowded that tonging Avas extremely difficult. The individual oysters 
are thin-shelled, sharp-edged, and more or less elongate and irregu- 
lar. The flavor is inferior. Some of the clusters bear considerable 
numbers of mussels, but they have not yet become the menace found 
in the upper bay. So far as the actual production of individuals is 
concerned, this is the densest bed in the entire bay, but the stock is 
small and therefore less in actual bulk than on several other beds. 

Middle Lump has apparently not been worked for some years, if 
ever. 

BOGGY LUMP. 

This is a small but important bed from which many good oysters 
have been derived in former j^ears. It is about 250 yards long and 
100 yards wide, with an area of approximately 5 acres. The bed is 
uniformly dense and compact, rising rather abruptly from soft mud 
in 4 feet of water until its criest is covered with slightly less than a 
foot at the low-water plane to which soundings are referred in this 
report. The shoal water on its crest and the mass of shells, 3 feet 
or more in thickness, upon which the living oysters lie show plainly 
that this is an old bed. 

Keports state that remarkably large quantities of oysters have 
been marketed from Boggy Lump in years past, and the detailed 
examination made by the survey fully substantiates the statements. 
An average per square j'^ard of 182 oysters over 3 inches long and 
81 below that length was found, and the catch was the cleanest and 
best made anj^where in the upper waters of the bay. The oysters 
have a fine shape and grow in good clusters of 4 or 5 marketable 
individuals each. The adults average about 4^ inches long, are 
16354—07 M 3 



82 OVSIKK r.OTTOMS IN M A'I'A(;<)HI)A I5A^'. 

somewhiit elongate, but not objectionably so, and at the tinie of the 
survey Avere quite fat, though insipid in flavor owing to the low 
density of the water (about 1.0040). There are a few barnacles and 
mussels, but the latter have not yet obtained tlie footing noted on 
other beds in the upper bay. 

The density of growth on the bed is quite uniform and remark- 
able, averaging about 2,200 barrels per acre, a total of 11,000 barrels 
for the bed. The author know^s of no productiveness approaching 
this in any oj^ster region with which he is familiar. The bed is evi- 
dently a valuable one, but has not been fished during the present 
season (1904-5) owing to the low salinity of the water and the re- 
sulting inferior flavor of the oysters. Should the proposed new cut 
be completed and maintained, Boggy Lump should yield a good 
product. 

GRASS LyMP. 

Grass Lump is a small, dense reef about 300 yards from shore and 
about the same distance east of the mouth of Boggy Creek. It is 
an old reef, elevated several feet above the surrounding bottom so 
that its crest is nearly awash at Ioav water. At the time of the sur- 
vey its position was marked by a stake. The oysters are thin-shelled, 
sharp-edged, and irregular in outline, the adults averaging about 4 
inches in length, and single individuals and small clusters predomi- 
nate. There are no mussels, but many barnacles, and the oyster shells 
are characterized by a bright green color in places. The small ones 
are hard-shelled, heavy, and with crenate edges, such as are usually 
possessed by small oysters in localities where the water is shoal and 
the bottom hard. 

The detailed examination yielded an average count per square 
yard of about 55 oysters over 3 inches long and about Gl young. 
Most of the young were between 1 and 2 inches long. The catch on 
this bed contained many dead shells, but most of these were old 
and derived from the dense shelly mass, 2 to 3 feet deep, on which 
the living bed lies. It is understood that this bed has been worked 
in former years, but nothing was done on it during the present 
season. 

lOLEBACH PATCHES. 

These lie on the western edge of Idlebach Flats, a sandy shoal ex- 
tending for upward of one-half mile from shore between East I^oint 
and North Base signals. The growth is a very scattering one of small 
patches, each containing a few oysters, single or in clusters. Several 
sections examined on the most prolific bottom gave an average of 
about 9 oysters per square yard, but this ])roduction is not maintained 
over a very large part of the area shown on the charts. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IX MATAGORDA BAY. 33 

These oj'sters are the largest and best shaped occurring east of Dog 
Island Reef. They are much broader and thicker than those found on 
the neighboring muddy bottom and averaged from 5^ to 6 inches in 
length. The shells are moderately thin and the meats plum}), though 
the flavor is brackish. They would make excellent " shell stock " 
were the salinity of the water someAvhat higher. The proportion of 
young oysters is small. There is a number of large dead shells. 
These beds were formerly fished, and are said to have yielded a fair 
quantity of excellent oysters. 

jvrinni.E patches. 

The name Middle Patches is given to six heretofore unnamed, 
small, compact bodies of oysters lying in the middle of the bay be- 
tween Boggy Creek and Idlebach Flats. Of these,, four have a 
dense growth and two are scattering, as shown on the chart. The 
existence of some of these beds is known to the oystermen, though not 
their exact position. They are difficult to find, owing to their small 
size and slight elevation above the surrounding bottom. They range 
in area from 1 to 2^ acres, the total acreage being about 10. 

The dense beds are very productive, detailed examination showing 
in places an average per square yard of 135 oysters over and 78 under 
3 inches in length. On the scattered beds the yield is much below 
this, but still considerable. These beds, even the dense ones, are not 
very old, the deposit of shells being less than a foot in thickness and 
the water over them shoaling but slightly, but there is evidence to 
show that one of them at least occupies the site of a former bed, 
which has become covered with a deposit of sand and mud 2 feet 
deep. 

The beds are composed of rather large, heavy clusters of living 
oysters and dead shells, often embedded for a considerable part of 
their length in the soft mud. There are very few single oysters. 
The average adults are between 4 and 6 inches long, with a con- 
siderable number reaching a length of 7 to 8 inches. The small oys- 
ters Avere between li and 2 inches long. The shells are rather thin 
and the oysters, at the time of examination, were in fair condition, 
though too fresh in flavor. There are a few mussels. These beds 
apparently have not been Avorked in recent years. 

EAST POINT BED. 

This heretofore unnamed bod lies about 750 yards offshore betAveen 
Idlebach Flats and East Point signal. It has a length of about 850 
yards and a Avidth of 150, with an area of approximately 23 acres. 
It consists of a small central area composed of many dense patches 



34 OYSTKH liOiroMS IN .M A I A( JOKDA IIAV. 

separated by soil luiid and prolongations of scattering growths north- 
west and southeast. The denser area, which is the older part of the 
bed. has still no very great age, the living oysters reposing on a soft, 
iruiddy bottom in which shells can be detected with the probe for a 
depth of about 4 feet. The surrounding more scattered area has 
substantially the same chai-acter excepting that the oysters are found 
at wider intervals. 

The oysters are extremely long and narrow and with dead shells 
are crowded into large clusters, which are buried for one-thii'd to one- 
half their length in tlie soft mud. The adults average al)Out .") inches 
in length, but numy of them are (5 to 7 inches long. As in other 
localities of this part of the bay. the clusters are covered with a dense 
growth of barnacles and nuissels, but the oysters are fatter than are 
fouiul at any jjoint above. On the densest parts of the central area 
thei'e is an average of about 48 adult oysters per square yard, but 
the average yield is below this. The bed is estimated to contain about 
G,400 barrels. 

ELEVEN MILE LUMPS. 

This is a group of three dense areas near the north shore between 
Stump and Grass signals. They are here so -called because situated 
about 11 miles from Matagorda. The largest and most eastward is 
about ?>'25 yards long and 200 yards wide, with an estimated area of 
about 11 acres. The other two lying farther offshore to the west- 
ward are small bodies covering about an acre each, and are not accu- 
rately plotted on the chart. They were observed during the ex- 
tremely low tides of Avinter, Avhen their crests Avere about awash, but 
were not found by the hydrographic party and their importance 
appeared so slight that no extended search Avas made for them. 

No detailed examination Avas made of the larger bed, but a cursory 
observation indicated that it bears a general resemblance to Grass 
Lump. The estimated contents are 4,700 barrels of oysters over 3 
inches in diameter. The groAvth is dense OA^er the gi'eater part of all 
three lumps. Avith a more scattering groAvth on the margins. These 
are apparently all old beds. Upon the crests of the smaller lumps 
the oysters are small and numy are killed by cold and exposure dur- 
ing the low^ tides of Avinter. 

c:heek patches. 

The beds to Avhich this name is giAvn in this report lie along the 
north shore between the uu)uth of Live Oalv Creek and Stump signal. 
There are fi\^e beds in the group, ranging in extent from about 2 to 
about f)0 acres. The largest bed lies southeast of Stumi) signal, begin- 
ning as an ex])()sed reef just oft' the mouth t)f a ^mall creek and 



Plate VIII. 





1 




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1 





2 OYSTERS FROM EAST POINT BED. Reduced f. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 85 

extending in a southeasterly direction for about 1,000 yards. At its 
inner end it is a dense body of small clustered oysters, but a short 
distance from the shore it becomes a scattering growth, gradually 
merging with the surrounding soft mud. The oysters are of very 
inferior quality. The bed next to this consists of a dense mass of dead 
shells near the shore, with very iew marketable oysters and a scattered 
growth of small oysters extending upon the surrounding mud. The 
other beds, which are smaller, consist of a shell bank nucleus with a 
fringe of small scattered oysters. The Creek Patches are of practi- 
cally no value commercially, and it is not known that they ever have 
been. The entire bight between the mouth of Live Oak Creek and 
Stump signal is covered with a foot of soft mud lying above a layer 
of shells. 

DRESSING POINT SHOALS. 

The oystermen give this name to a bed running down the bay for 
a distance of upward of a mile from Dressing Point, but in this 
report the designation is extended to include two newer and unnamed 
beds to the southw^ard, which for convenience will be called Middle 
and South shoals, respectively. These beds have a combined area 
of about 477 acres, and it is estimated that at the time of the survey, 
in March, 1905, they contained about 26,000 barrels of oysters over 
3 inches in length. 

The original bed, long known to the residents as Dressing Point 
shoal, and included in what this report calls the North shoal, lies at a 
distance of between one-fourth and one-half mile off Dressing Point. 
This old reef is about 400 to 600 yards in diameter, with a depth of 
about 1^ feet of water on the crest at the low-water plane adopted in 
this report. The south side is abrupt, the soundings jumping from 4^ 
feet to 2i feet within a few yards, but the north margin slopes off 
gradually from the crest to a depth of 3 feet at the edge of the bed. 
Probings show that the deposit of shells and oysters is about 2^ 
feet thick, superimposed on a layer of sand and hard mud on the 
north side, which gradually changes to a soft, muddy bottom south- 
ward. That this part of the bed is quite old is shown hy the 
thickness of the shell deposit, which must be the product of many 
years and by the circumstance that it was a well-defined shoal 
fifty years ago when the hydrographic survey by the Coast Survey 
was made. 

The growth of oysters on parts of the old shoal is dense, one section 
examined giving an average per square yard of 100 oysters over 3 
inches long and 40 of smaller size, but other sections w^ere much less 
productive, especially in oysters of the larger size. From this nu- 
cleus of dense growth the north shoal stretches away in all directions, 
but especially to the eastward and westward, the oysters becoming 



3() OYSTER I50TTOMS IN M ATACiOHl lA IJAV. 

gradually more and iiioi't; scattered as the margins of the bed are 
approached, the small patches of clusters being separated by increas- 
ing areas of the hard nnid which in general forms the bottom on 
which the bed reposes. The southern and western limits are rather 
well defined by the change from hard to soft muddy bottom, but to 
the northward the hai"d mud sti-etches away to the shore of the baj'. 
It is evident from the conditions obtaining here that the bed has been 
extended beyond the limits of the original reef by the distribution 
through the agency of the oystermen of shells and small oysters re- 
jected in culling. The bed was formerly fished for the market, but 
was untouched during the season of the survey. 

The oysters occur in clusters of 3 or 4 adults Avith small ones at- 
tached. The larger 03'sters average about 4 to 4^ inches in length, 
are rather thin-shelled, and more or less narrow and elongate. Nearly 
all clusters bear great masses of young mussels, which are rapidly 
overgrowing the oj^sters, smothering them, appropriating their food, 
and in general reducing them to an extremely poor and watery condi- 
tion, totall}^ unfit for market. The bed is commercially worthless in 
its present condition, the effect, direct and indirect, of the low salin- 
ity resulting from the closure of Mitchells cut. The density of the 
water at the time of the survey (]March, 1905) was l)etween 1.0037 
and l.OOGl. The most promising fact in connection with the bed is 
the preponderance of young oysters, those under 3 inches outnumber- 
ing those over that length nearly two to one. indicating that if the 
proper density conditions should be brought about the bed would 
soon recover its former productiveness. The prolific growth of mus- 
sels is evidently a recent development traceable to the low salinity. 

The south and middle Dressing Point beds have areas of about 190 
and 15 acres, respectively. They differ from the north bed in the 
fact that they have not old dense reefs as nuclei. They each consist 
of scattered patches of clustered oysters lying on the soft mud which 
forms the general bottom in this part of the bav. The growth is 
more sparse than on the northern bed, and all circumstances point to 
the conclusion that the beds are of comparatively recent origin. The 
oyster pilot attached to the survey stated that there were practically 
no oysters on either bed ten years ago. It is evident that we have 
here another case of the founding of a bed on rather soft muddy 
liottom through the medium of oysters and shells thrown overboard 
by the oyster boats culling on their way to market, this area lying 
directly in the course of vessels returning to Port Lavaca and Mata- 
gorda from the beds above Dressing Point. In this case the prac- 
tice results in an extension of the natural beds, but if the mud were 
a little softer the oysters would be engulfed and lost. The oysters 
on both beds in general resemble those of the northern bed, though 
somewhat more elongate. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 37 

LIVE OAK BAY. 

The area regarded as embraced in this region lies east of a line 
drawn from Dressing Point to the mouth of Live Oak Creek. It 
contains a proportionately large area of oyster-bearing bottom, about 
2:28 acres in all, divided into three general groups of beds — a scatter- 
ing growth interspersed with a few dense j)atches lying in the south- 
ern half of the bay, a rather dense bed southeast of the mouth of Live 
Oak Creek, and several small beds near the islet north of Dressing 
Island. 

The largest bed, with an area of about 160 acres, covers practically 
the entire southeastern part of the bay and sends a long narrow 
tongue down between Dressing Island and the mainland. Near the 
center of the bay there is a small reef about 35 yards long and 20 
yards wide, a large part of which is bare at low w ater. Here the 
oysters are small and poor in shape and quality, and there is a great 
preponderance of dead shells and shell debris. The bed is about 1 
foot thick, superimposed on a Substratum of soft mud about a foot 
deep, beneath which hard bottom is found. From this reef the bed 
scatters off in all directions excepting the north, the oysters improv- 
ing somewhat in quality as they become fewer in numbers. In gen- 
eral they lie in scattered patches surrounded by soft mud, but be- 
tween Dressing Island and the mainland the bottom is hard and 
shelly for a depth of 2 feet. In this place there is a fair grow^th of 
single oysters of good shape and from 3^ to 4 inches long, with a con- 
siderable proportion of smaller ones. The best oysters found any- 
where above Dressing Point were produced in this locality, but the 
salinity of the water is so low that their flavor was insipid in the 
extreme. 

The small patch north of Grassy Island, shown on the chart, is 
practically a dead reef or shell heap, with very few adults, but a 
relatively larger number of small oysters than were found in other 
sections examined. 

The long bed running westward from Grassy Island is composed 
of about equal numbers of dead shells and clustered oysters about 3^ 
inches long, together with a considerable proportion of smaller ones. 
Near the island the bed is practically a shell heap. The clustered 
oysters are thin-shelled, long, and elliptical, and bear large numbers 
of mussels, whose prolific growth is smothering the oysters. 

The bed south of the mouth of Live Oak Creek is a dense shelly 
shoal near the shore, but at its outer edge becomes more scattering. 
The oysters in general resemble those on the bed last described. 

Live Oak Bay was formerly a more or less prolific ground for the 
oystermen, but the beds, in common with those in other parts of the 
upper bay, have been much injured by the freshness of the water 
since the closure of Mitchells Cut. At the time of the survey the 



38 OYSTER HOT'I'OMS IN MATAtiORDA BAY. 

densit}' ranged between 1.0018 and 1.0041. Tlu- Iwttoni is generally 
composed of soft mud, with a substratum of shells almost everywhere 
at a depth of G or 8 inches, giving testimony to the former greater 
abundance of oysters in these waters. 

BEDS ABOVK DRKSSING POINT. 

It is stated by persons possessed of local knowledge of the bay that, 
prior to the opening of Mitchells Cut, during the gale of 1875, the 
entire region above Dressing Point was practical]}^ devoid of oyster 
growth. This can well be believed from an inspection of the condi- 
tions obtaining in the winter of 1904-5, the cut having finally closed 
during the previous summer after a varied existence. It will be 
seen by reference to the chapter on "Densities" (p. 57) that the 
salinity was altogether too low to produce satisfactory oysters; and 
as the tendency in isolated bodies of water so situated is to become 
progressively fresher, it will not be long, if the time has not already 
arrived, when the salinity will become so low as actually to imperil 
the existence of the oysters already established there. The oysters 
on all of the beds about here were poor and sicklj'^ in appearance, 
and were evidently having a hard struggle for existence against 
adverse conditions. Unless a new communication with the Gulf is 
established, these beds will forever be worthless, even should they 
not be exterminated. 

It is stated that until the season of 1904-5 the oysters in this part of 
the bay were generally of excellent quality, and Port Lavaca dealers 
paid $1 per barrel for them when those from Tiger Island were worth 
but 75 cents. All of the beds, which are discussed in more detail 
below, were highly productive and much frequented by the oystermen, 
sometimes from 400 to 500 barrels per season being taken from a half- 
acre patch. 

Although these beds are shown on the charts each as a continuous 
growth of scattered oysters, in reality they consist of innumerable 
small Datches separated by areas of soft, muddy bottom. It is stated 
that the original growth in this part of the bay was initiated at Browns 
Lump, and extended gradually down the bay. It is evident that the 
beds were at one time all more compact, but have become scattered 
and widely extended b}^ the operations of oystering and the distribu- 
tion by the oystermen of shells and cullings over the soft mud sur- 
rounding the beds, each shell or oyster thus distributed becoming a 
potential basis for the attachment of future generations of young. 

The beds above Dressing Point, as shown on the accompanying 
chart, include within their limits about 395 acres. On the best parts 
of these beds there is an average per acre of about 70 barrels of 
oysters over 8 inches in length; and as it is estimated that but 15 per 



OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. 89 

cent of the area is thus productive, the total present accumulation is 
probably not far from 5,000 barrels of oysters above the size pre- 
scribed b}^ law as the minimum Avhich it is permissible to take. The 
average size on these beds as a whole is not much over 3^ inches. The 
average number of oysters per square yard on the best parts of the 
l)eds are as follows: Over 3 inches in length, 14; between 1 and 3 
inches, 8; under 1 inch, — ; dead, 30. 

The recently dead oysters rarely measure 3^ inches in length, but 
those showing evidence of death at a more remote period are larger. 
About three-fourths of the shells are old and rotten. 

The oysters are i^oor, the shells are thin, and there are practically 
no living things save oysters. On the whole, the beds are in bad con- 
dition. 

Brourns Lum.j). — This is a small bed lying off Browns Cedars, at a 
distance of about 400 yards from shore. It has a length of about 400 
yards, a width of 250 yards, and an estimated area of 18 acres. It 
is stated that this was formerly a dense and much smaller body of 
oysters, but owing to extensive fishing in recent years and the custom 
of throwing culls and shells on the mud surrounding the original 
area this has now become transformed into a diffuse bed in which 
the oysters lie in scattered patches. Within recent years a thin 
deposit of mud has been laid down, and many of the oysters and 
shells have been covered, though their presence is readily detected 
with the sounding pole. The oysters are now few in number and 
inferior in shape and qualit3^ This bed has apparently suffered 
severely from the closure of Mitchells Cut, but should the cut at 
Browns Bayou be soon opened there is good reason to expect that 
Browns Lump will again become productive. 

Marsh Patch. — This name is given in this report to a small bed of 
about 9 acres of scattering oysters hang near the north shore oppo- 
site Browns Lump, The oysters are few in quantity and inferior in 
quality, but the new cut should improve them in both respects. 

Root Liimfs. — -These beds lying in the middle of the bay between 
Brown and Smith signals have a total area of about 170 acres. They 
are composed of patches, which can be grouped in five general beds, 
varjnng in size from 1 to 100 acres, as shown on the chart. They 
are discontinuous in character, the oysters being found in small 
patches, each composed of a few clusters separated by soft mud. 
They cover a much greater area tlian formerly, and, like the other 
beds of this part of the bay, have apparently become much extended 
beyond their original dimensions by the custom of culling and 
throwing overboard the shells and small oysters on the bottom sur- 
rounding the reef. In former years, when excellent oysters were 
produced here, oystermen discovering the small productive patches 



4(1 OVSI'KIi KOTTOMS I iN MAIACOUDA I5AV. 

or lutups of which tlic, bcsd-s coij.sisU'(l obscrvi'd iiiucli secrecy in their 
operations and upon the approach of another boat Avithdrew to 
the barren areas and utilized the ()])port unity in culliuii- I heir catch. 
The dead shells, together Avith the young oysters, when not ingulfed 
in the soft mud, became the nuclei to which the spat of succeeding 
years attached. That many of the oysters and shells gradually sank 
beneath the surface mud is shown by the almost universal ju-esence 
of a substratum of shells easily detectable with the sounding pole. 
There is no doubt that under favorable conditions of density this 
diU'usion of material suitable for cultch woidd eventually result in 
the establishment of more extensive productive beds. In former 
years the IJoot Lumps were S3^stematically Avorked and produced a 
fair jdeld of good oysters. As in the case of the other beds of this 
region, they were unproductive during the season of 1904-5. 

Ranch Patclwfi. — This name is given to a chain of six beds lying 
between Eanch signal and the cut into Live Oak Bay east of Dressing 
Island. The area of the individual beds varies from less than 1 acre 
to over 50 acres, and the total acreage of the group is about 108. The 
general character of the beds is about the same as those constituting 
the Eoot Lumps, though there are small areas where the grow^th is 
more dense and Avith a greater accumulation of shells. Nearer the 
shore there is a substratum of hard mud upon which is superimposed 
a stratum of soft mud and shells, but toward the middle of the bay 
the bottom, to a depth of 4 to 5 feet at least, is composed entirely of 
soft mud and engulfed shells. The living oysters are all small, badly 
clustered, and of \'ery poor quality and shape. There is a great pre- 
ponderance of dead shells, many of the old ones being large. Avhile 
the recently dead are of smaller size. The shells of the living oysters 
are thin and fragile, and the whole aspect of the beds indicates that 
they are far on the higliAvay to extinction. 

Off-the-Cut Lvwps. — The beds so designated by the oystermen are 
four in number, ranging from about 4 to 115 acres in area, Avith a 
total acreage of about 160. The conditions here are practically the 
same as those found on the Eoot Lumps and the other beds in the 
vicinity. The beds lie on the southeast side of the bay opposite to 
the cut east of Dressing Island. 

East Side Linn p. — This is a bed Avith an area of about 40 acres, 
extending for about 350 yards along the shore of Dressing Island and 
projecting out into the bay for a distance of about 800 yards. It con- 
sists of a scattering groAvth of about the same general character as in 
the preceding beds. About 350 yards to the eastward there is a small 
lump Avith a dense groAvth forming a shoal projecting out from the 
island. This bed is noAv continuous Avith the scattering growth along 
shore, but Avas formerly a detached circular body of a good quality 
and productiveness. 



Plate IX. 




1. GOVE BAYOU OYSTER. Reduced 









^-^ 


IK'' 


^^ 


L. 


M 


^^ 




--.^ 


^^^^s 


yi^i^ 


k 


^^1 


■>'-^^:.^'<«j« 




wy' ^^^w 


^^p 


PW^PF 


fi^HI 


-^ 


bi. 1 


- 


^^Hf ic<>^ 










i.^ ' 


r^ 


t 




^ 


^ 


^ 


1 


^ 


■ 


^ 





2. MAVERICK BAYOU OYSTER. Reduced 



OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. -11 

SHORES AND BAYOUS. 

Above Dressing Point there is a practically continuous fringe of 
,-cattering oysters along shore and ifi the bayous, a condition which 
also prevails at intervals along the south shore aluiost as far as Tiger 
Island. Excepting in the deeper bayous most of these oysters are 
young and lie in such shallow water as to be exposed for longer or 
shorter periods during the winter. At the time of the survey a large 
proportion of them had died, undoubtedly for lack of food and 
water, as the bottom on which tliey lay was cracked and seamed from 
the action of sun and wnnd. 

Below Tiger Island there are numerous long narrow bayous, usu- 
ally with muddy bottoms, penetrating the peninsula to the line of 
sand dunes which fringes the gulf shore. Some of these apparently 
contain no oysters whatever, but in Zyprian, Thompson, Gove, Big. 
Maverick, Boggy, Hibber, Cotton, and one or two other bayous there 
was found a scattering growth in tlie general localities indicated on 
the chart. In most cases these oysters were large and fat, some of 
them being the best found during the survey. It is understood that 
certain of these bayous have been planted. 

OYSTER CULTURE. 

NECESSITY AND GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 

That the natural oyster beds of Matagorda Bay will not be able 
to produce sufficient stock to keep pace with the demands of the grow- 
ing oyster industry is a proposition wdiich hardly demands demon- 
stration. The universal history, not only of oysters but of other 
natural produ.cts — of lumber, of natural gas, of land-locked fishes — 
shows that the belief in unlimited and exhaustless supply eventually 
brings disaster and the conviction, often too late, that nature's bounty 
must be aided by man's economy and foresight. On all parts of our 
coast, even in Maryland, whose waters are vastly more productive 
than the coast of Texas, the natural oyster beds have been more or 
less comjjletely exhausted, and the only salvation from extinction of 
the oyster industry is recourse to planting under some scheme of 
l)rivate ownership. 

DEMAND UPON NATURAL BEDS. 

With the small business of past years the drain upon the natural 
beds of Matagorda Bay never would have been such as to imperil 
the supply, but changing conditions incident to the increasing de- 
mands of a greater population, the mulitiplication of railroads and 
their competition for traffic, and the depletion of formerly produc- 
tive beds on other parts of the Atlantic and gulf coasts have operated 



■\)i OVSTKK noTTOMS IN M A r.\(i()HI)A P.AY. 

I(> induce n coni])aratiAi']y ra])id expansion of the oyster industrv 
on the shores of the l)ay (hiring the past few years. Formerly Port 
Lavaca, bein<i- the only jjoint having railway communication, was the 
sole locality in Avhich more than a purely local oyster trade could be 
conducted, but the recent entry of railroads into Matagorda and 
Palacios has enabled those towns to become competitors. Far fioin 
detracting from the importance of Port Lavaca as an oyster center, 
the rise of this competition has but served to stimulate shipments from 
that place, with the result of a recent rapid increase in the oj^ster 
trade of the entire Matagorda region. In the season of 1904-5 
there were shucking establishments in actual operation on the bay. 
According to the rejjort of the state oyster commission the ship- 
ments from Matagorda Bay points in 1902-3 represented 5,5,000 
barrels, in 190o— 4 i)4,()00 barrels, and in 1904-5, according to ap- 
proximate estimates obtained from the dealers, about 125,000 barrels, 
of unshucked oysters. 

PREVIOUS OUTPUT AND POSSIBLE YIELD. 

In the earlier years many of the oysters came from above Dog 
Island Reef, but in 1904-5 practically all came from between Dog 
Island and Half Moon reefs, the majority of them from the two beds 
named. As shown in the table on page 14, Dog Island, Forked 
Bayou, Shell Island, Mad Island, and Half Moon Reef are estimated 
to have contained at the close of the season 1904-5 about 264,000 
barrels of oysters over 3 inches long, or, if the estimate be restricted 
to the parts of the reef which are worked, about 234,000 barrels. To 
arrive at the number on the workable portions of the beds at the 
beginning of the season, in the fall of 1904, there must be added to 
this about 125,000 barrels, the quantity gathered during the year, 
making the estimated total of about 359,000 barrels, say, in Septem- 
ber, 1904. The oysters marketed, therefore, represented approxi- 
mately 35 per cent of the total available supply of those over 3 
inches long, although of course a considerable proportion of the lat- 
ter were too small for the trade. 

Ninnerous detailed examinations of the workable areas of the beds 
show that the oysters under 3 inches were numerical^ to those over 
that length in the proportion of about t)8 to 100 at the close of the 
season. Assuming that practically all of these small oy.sters survive 
and that they will grow to an average marketable size within one 
year, which is a rapid rate of grow^th, there would be added to the 
available supph^ of oysters for the season 1905-6 about 159,000 
barrels, or, allowing a mortality of 25 per cent during the year, about 
120,000 barrels. If the conditions at the time of the survey were nor- 
mal and the annual supply of spat in succeeding years were to be 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 43 

equal to that which had set in each of the two years preceding, the 
catch during the season 1904—5, estimated at 125,000 barrels, must be 
approximately the maximum allowable for all the beds between Dog 
Island and Half Moon light. Any greater demands upon the beds 
Avould speedily exhaust them, and in the face of unfavorable condi- 
tions even this draft can not be maintained upon any of the beds in 
question. 

The best parts of Half Moon Reef, which supplied an important 
part of the yield for 1904—5, are already practically exhausted, and 
even Avith a heavy set of spat during the summer of 1905, which is by 
no means certain, can not hold their own again for several years to 
come. The other beds are in their turn likely to meet with the same 
conditions. As has been stated before in this report, the beds above 
Dog Island Reef were relatively of little economic value at the time 
of the survey, owing to the freshness of the water. Thej^ yielded 
practically, if not absolutely, nothing during the season, but are esti- 
mated to have contained at that time about 181,000 barrels of oysters 
over 3 inches long. The small oysters were numerically to those over 
o inches long in the proportion of 175 to 100, the great preponder- 
ance of them being on Dressing Point shoal. Middle Lump, Raymond 
Landing Shoals, Boiler Bayou Reef, and Spring Bayou Reef. From 
the fact that they were mainly on old dense beds it is not improbable 
that many of them were old oysters stunted b}^ reason of their 
crowded condition, though it is true that the set of spat on some of 
the beds has been heavy in recent years, and the character and condi- 
tion of the oysters, as well as the productiveness of the beds, would 
undoubtedly be improved if the beds were worked. 

On account of their poor quality and freshness most of these oysters 
were during the survey unfit for the raw trade, but many of them 
would be utilized by canneries. Owing to the mixed character of the 
chisters and the difficulty in culling off the small oysters, a very large 
proportion of the latter would necessarily be destroyed if the beds 
Avere Avorked, especially if the stock Avere steamed. The oysters of 
Raymond Landing Shoals in their present condition could not be 
used except for canning, and as this bed contains numerically about 
half of all the young oysters above Dog Island Reef, the destruction 
for several years at least would necessarily be enormous. Taking 
cA^erything into consideration, it is doubtful Avhether the beds in the 
upper bay could produce more than 75,000 barrels of oysters per 
annum for a term of years, even Avere the density conditions to be so 
modified as to become much more favorabk^ than at present. A sin- 
gle large cannery could consume the entire output. 

A consideration of the above facts shows that under fair condi- 
tions as understood on the gulf coast, and with the wisest possible 



44 OYSTKK I'.OTTOMS IX MA'1'.\(!( >KI)A I'.AV. 

administration of the culling laws, tiie potential annual product of 
all the natural beds above Half Moon Reef can not be expected 
to exceed for a term of years about 200.000 barrels of marketable 
oysters. For a time the catch may be in exces^ of this and there 
will be occasional j^ears of exceptional plenty, but, on the other hand, 
the same beds must be expected to have lean years or even periods 
of barrenness, such as have in the past periodical!}^ visited Half 
Moon Reef and some of its neighbors; or there may be physical 
disasters, such as overwhelmed Mad Tslnnd Reef about 181X). The 
more closely the potential limit of production is approached, the 
greater is the likelihood of disaster should the conditions at any 
time become unfavorable. 

Owing to the complexity and fortuitous character of the factors 
that have to be taken into consideration, the foregoing estimates 
and the conclusions drawn from them must of course be regarded 
not as absolute but as mere approximations. The correctness of 
the general trend of their testimony, however, can not be disputed, 
and it is the unmistakable conclusion that if the oyster industry 
of Matagorda Bay is to have its legitimate development it must be 
based on a supply of raAv material less precarious and less sid^ject 
to promiscuous demand than that from tlie natural beds. If others 
hesitate to embark in the industry, the dealers and packers them- 
selves must, for their own protection, blaze the Avay and if neces- 
sary plant areas sufficient to insure the future of their own business. 
Resort to oyster culture is inevitable, and it is proper, therefore, 
to discuss the chief local, physical, and biological considerations 
that apply and the degi'ee to which these conditions are filled in 
Matagorda Bay. 

OYSTER LAWS AND PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 
SYNOPSIS OF EXISTING LAWS. 

Under the legislation in force July 1, 1905, the enforcement of the 
oyster laws of Texas is intrusted to the fish and oyster commis- 
sioner, Avho is assisted b}^ a number of deputies, the same persons 
being the agents of the state in the execution of laws relating to the 
other public fisheries. A special tax of 2 cents per barrel is levied 
(Revised Statutes, ch. 4, title 48, art. 2514) on all oysters taken 
from the waters of the state, Avhether from natural reefs or private 
beds, '"'' Provided^ That oysters taken from any Avaters for bedding 
purposes shall not be subject to this tax until again taken up for 
sale or shipment." 

Each boat engaged in oystering for market is required (art. 2518k) 
to procure from the commissioner a li(,'ense of prescribed form, pay- 
ing a fee of $1 for each person cmployi'd thereon. Persons engaged 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 45 

ill oystering for market independently of a licensed vessel are re- 
quired to take out individual licenses under a fee of $1 each. 

A natural bed is '' declared to exist when as many as five barrels 
of oysters may be found therein within 2,500 square feet of any po- 
sition of said reef or bed'' (art. 25181). 

Any citizen of the United States or corporation incorporated in 
the state of Texas has the right to obtain a location, not exceeding 
an area of G-tO acres, for purposes of oyster culture, by making a 
written application, with a deposit of $10, to the fish and oyster 
commissioner. No natural bed as above defined is subject to loca- 
tion, and the commissioner is required to examine all proposed loca- 
tions to determine whether they comply with the law. The methods 
of survey, marking, and the filing of records of the same are pre- 
scribed. The locator is required to pa}^ " for the survey, plat, and 
all expenses connected therewith," and, in addition, he " shall pay 
to the fish and oyster commissioner or his deputy a fee of $10 for 
every 50 acres or fractional "part thereof for the examination of the 
location, including the certificate " of description. Locators com- 
plying with all requirements of law are protected against trespass as 
freeholders are protected in their rights. (Art. 2518m, as amended, 
and 2518p.) 

The owners of private locations are required to maintain the per- 
manent shore marks, and are given the right to fence or stake their 
claims, subject to navigation laws. The rental or tax for the first 
year or fraction thereof to January 1 following is 15 cents per acre; 
for the next four years, 25 cents per acre per annum, and for each 
3-ear thereafter, $1 per acre, the first payment being due on receipt 
of the certificate of location and subsequent payments on the 1st day 
of January of each year. Nonpayment of the rental before March 1 
of any year forfeits all right to the location, which reverts to the 
state. (Art. 2518n, as amended.) 

Under special permit from the commissioner, applicants may be 
empowered to gather by tongs, rakes, hand, or dredges from specific- 
ally designated and defined beds unculled oysters for planting on 
private locations, provided the beds designated have furnished no 
marketable oysters for two years preceding. The applicant is re- 
quired to pay a fee of $5, all expenses of locating and examining the 
designated reef, and a further sum of 1 cent per bushel if the seed 
oysters be gathered by dredges or rakes. The usual license is required 
if they are gathered by tongs or hand. The catch is limited in any 
one season to not over three- fourths of the contents of the bed. (Art. 
2518q, as amended.) 

Under the penal code of the state, penalties are provided for in- 
fractions of the foregoing; for taking oysters between April 30 and 
September 1, excepting in certain parts of Laguna Madre; for failure 



46 OYSTER IJOrroMS IX MATAGOKDA iiAV. 

to cull and return to the beds alive, oysters 2i inches long or less and 
all dead shells; for planting oysters during the closed season stated 
above; for the theft of oysters from private beds; for removing or 
injuring marks designating private beds; and for using rakes or 
dredges on the public beds or natural reefs. 

DISCUSSION or KXISTINC; LAWS. 

The laws as published under the authority of the fish and oyster 
commissioiu'i' of Texas in 1905, of whicli laws the foregoing is a brief 
digest, are in the main salutary, though there are some inconsistencies 
and duplications and several important omissions. The former are 
])robably more apparent than i-eal and may represent defects of com- 
pilation rather than of the laAvs themselves. 

The law provides no definite method of securing a review of the 
acts of the commissioner, a matter which the experience of other 
states has shown to be of considerable importance. 

T\^ien the necessity arises^ for the examination of considerable 
areas of the bottom in the location of the proposed leases, it maj^ 
easily occur that natural beds may inadvertently be included in the 
survey. Unless such matters can be brought to an immediate issue 
and adjudicated authoritatively ill feeling is engendered and a 
natural prejudice excited against the whole scheme of oyster culture 
under private ownership. The natural-bed oysterman will feel that 
he has been defrauded and that public fisheries are gratuitously 
transferred to private interests, and the belief may be held not the 
less tenaciously though it be unfounded. Public sentiment favorably 
inclined toward the more or less novel experiment of oyster culture 
in any given locality is an important element of success in developing 
the oyster resources of a state, and all measures tending to remove 
sources of misunderstanding and irritation should be given effect. 

Another source of possible conflict lies in the failure of the laws to 
require the proper marking of the oyster claims. It is true that per- 
manent marks are required to be maintained on shore, but there is no 
provision compelling the maintenance, under penalty, of such stakes 
and buoys as will plainly delimit the boundaries of the beds, and 
there is danger of constantly recurring disputes. On a number of 
planted areas examined during the survey there was nothing to indi- 
cate that they Avere other than scattering beds of wild oysters, and 
the}' were recognized as private claims solely from the statements of 
persons familiar with the locality. If a penalty is to be imposed for 
removing oysters from leased bottoms, it is surely but just and proper 
that the public should have some means of clearly knowing where 
such leaseholds are located. 

The laws do not provide n definite term for the leases, and pre- 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 47 

sumably these are to be held as perpetual during compliance of the 
lessee with the several proAdsions of the law. In that case they must 
also be held, presumably, as transferable and heritable, but the law 
does not provide, except inferentially (art. 529t), for the inheritance, 
sale, or transmittal of title. It prohibits the leasing or holding by 
any one person, firm, or corporation of a greater area than 640 acres, 
))ut what would become of a tract inherited by one already possessed 
of the maximum acreage? An oyster claim is not of such a nature 
that it could be disposed of at once, and the oysters on it could prob- 
ably not all be marketed with advantage and justice to the owner 
within two years. Some provision should be made for the protection 
of the rights and equity of an inheritor, and all transfers, whether by 
sale, assignment, or inheritance, should be made a matter of record. 
Provision should be made also for filing the plat of survey, or an at- 
tested copy thereof, with the copy of the original lease or certificate 
in the office of record. 

The provision of the law for the issuance of permits to take oysters 
for jjlanting purposes from reefs overcrowded with unmarketable 
stock is a most excellent one. These beds, by virtue of their excessive 
production, would in all probability never aiford good marketable 
oysters if left under purely natural conditions, and the removal of a 
portion of their contents would not only save those removed, but 
Avould permit such readjustment of growth among the residue as to 
develop their latent possibilities and convert them into stock of value. 
The only danger lies in removing more than the permitted propor- 
tion of the product and exterminating the beds by sweeping them 
clean of both oysters and shells. This is purel}^ a matter of inspec- 
tion, fair dealing, and judgment. 

ATTITUDE OF THE PUBLIC TOWARD OYSTER CULTURE. 

A number of areas in Matagorda Bay have been leased for oyster 
culture, but very little serious work had been done on them at the 
time of the survey, although, except some murmuring among the 
natural-bed oystermen, there Avas apparently no real opposition to the 
principle of oyster culture under private ownership. The objections 
heard touched mainly some features of the laws Avhich are criticised 
above, namely, the inclusion of natural beds within the grants, and 
the failure of the leaseholders to maintain proper marks to designate 
the boundaries of their locations. As to the justice of the first claim 
the survey had no hieans of judging nor any legitimate concern other 
than the desire to offer such advice as might tend to assuage any feel- 
ing of resentment toward the laws. From the observations made, 
however, it does not appear that the sentiment among the oystermen 
is of a nature to prompt active opposition to oyster culture such 
163.54 — 07 M 4 



48 OYSTER BOTTOMS IX MATAUOKDA BAY. 

as has been encountered in some other states, and every eti'ort should 
be made to discount such opposition by opcuing av'enues for obtaining 
redress for persons aggrieved or supposing themselves to be ag- 
grieved. For that reason the changes of hnv suggested above are 
earnestly advised. 

That the men who earn their living on the natural beds have noth- 
ing to fear and much to gain from the development of oyster culture 
is shown by the facts in every state in which the industry has been 
established. Many former oystermen in northern states by taking 
advantage of their o])portunities have become prosperous oyster 
planters, wnth an assured business taking the place of their previous 
precarious calling. Even w here, for want of enterprise or for reasons 
beyond their control, the}^ have allowed the opportunity for independ- 
ence to pass neglected, they are able to find steady employment on the 
planted beds in lieu of the uncertainty of labor on semiexhausted 
natural beds; and finally, for those having neither the desire nor the 
means to engage in planting for themselves, nor the inclination to 
enter the service of others, extensive oyster planting tends to assure the 
recuperation and perpetuation of the natural beds by creating a safety 
valve which relieves the pressure on the latter Avhenever their pro- 
ductiveness is reduced to a state imperiling their existence. There 
may be cited at least one instance where a large productive oyster 
field was absolutely and permanently depleted and ruined by private 
greed and the supposed necessities of business, a state of affairs that 
could never have been encompassed had there been extensive planted 
beds in the vicinity to keep up the supply of spat when the natural 
spawners were carried away. 

PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF OYSTER GROWTH. 

BOTTOMS AND DEPTHS. 

In any region naturally producing oysters the matter of the char- 
acter of the bottom is usually that receiving first consideration when 
the question of oyster culture is taken up. Other conditions — food 
and density, for instance — are generally, though not always, more 
uniform over considerable areas, and the fact that oysters of good 
quality are produced on neighboring natural beds is in general 
sufficient guaranty that these conditions are favorable. The bot- 
tom, however, may exhibit marked diversity of characteristics within 
comparatively narrow boundaries. 

The mere fact that oysters grow on one area but not on another 
adjoining it does not indicate that the two presented any original 
differences of moment. Pure accident may determine that one 
shall become productive while the other remains barren. For in- 
stance, there is a small oyster lump off' Crab Bayou, the position of 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 49 

which is conditioned by the accident that the schooner Kutc Ward 
was wrecked there several years ago and her hull furnished the one 
requisite previousl}^ lacking, a solid support for the attachment of 
the multitude of swinnning oyster fry which annually throng the 
surrounding water. So with every oyster bed in the bay to-day, 
the substratuui on which it lies dilfers probably not at all from the 
surrounding bottom, as was proved in the case of many of them by 
the investigation carried on by the survey. It is apparent, therefore, 
that the absence of oysters on a given area is not an evidence of its 
inherent lack of ada2)tation to oyster culture. A further investi- 
gation is necessary to determine the facts. 

In this survey the quality of the bottom was determined by means 
of the sounding pole at upward of 100,000 places in all parts of the 
ba3% and in many localities this was supplemented by probings to 
determine the character of the substratum. These examinations 
disclosed a nnirked uniformity of the distribution of the bottom 
materials. 

Along the northwestern shore there is, except in the vicinity of the 
mouth of the Colorado, a narrow fringe of hartl mud, the original 
bottom left by the erosion of the prairie loam as the shores gradually 
receded under the action of the waves. A large ])art of this bottom 
is bare for long periods during the Avinter. Off the mouth of live 
Oak Bay the belt of hard nnid is much wider than elsewhere, reaching 
from the north shore well on to the large oyster bed in the middle of 
the bay off' Dressing Point. On the southeastern side there is a cor- 
riesponding but generally wider strip of sand wash(^d from the shores 
and drifted by the winds which sweep across the peninsula from the 
sand hills on the Gulf. In many places the sand is compact and 
apparently stable, but often it tends to shift and undoubtedl}^ close to 
the shore line it is all liable to be seriously disturbed inider the 
influence of the heavy gales which sometimes visit the Gulf coast. 
Forked Ba^'ou Reef lies just beyond the edge of this sand in com- 
paratiA^ly deep water, yet it is stated, and the physical evidence 
gathered by the survey tends to substantiate the claim, that during 
the extraordinary gale of 1875 this bed was partially overwhelmed by 
sand swept upon it by the waves. This was an unusually violent gale, 
however, and in general it may be stated that the outer edge of the 
sand zone, where it lies as a thin stratum on the subjacent mud, is 
comparatively stable. This is particularly the case where the sand 
belt is broad, as on the Idlebach Flats or generally below Tiger Island, 
where its edge meets the mud at a depth of 5 or 6 feet. Between the 
two strips above described, one on each shore, the entire bottom of the 
bay, save on the natural beds, is composed of a deposit of motlerately 
soft mud of considerable depth, though in places in the upper bay 



50 OYSTEH BOTTO.MS IN MATAOOKDA I'.AV. 

there ib> a subblralum oi" hheil^. iiKlicatiiig the kjcatioii of ohl engulfed 
oyster beds. This soft mud is of sedimentary origin, tiie aceumuhi- 
tion of deposits of siU brought down by the fresh-watei- streams. 

Though varying somewhat in consistency, it is believed tliat 
practically all of this bottom, especially below Tiger Island, can 
bi' utilized, with little or no pi-eparation. for pur])oses of oyster 
cultiu'e. Shells spi-ead upon it will sink to some extent, but most 
of them will remain sulHciently exposed to furnisji bases for the 
attaclnnent of spat, and each year that the bottom is used will 
witness an improvement in its hardness tlirough the added acciimu- 
hitioiis of shells. That this is not a wholly untried experiment in 
Matagorda Bay is evidenced by the formation of the scattering beds 
of oysters about and above Dressing Point, which, as has been 
shown in preceding pages, have been produced by a species of unin- 
tentional oyster cultinv — the deposit on the soft mud of culls and 
shells thrown overboard from boats en route to market ffom beds 
lying fai-ther up. Local witnesses state that the great scattering 
growth shown on the chart north of East Point signal lies upon 
what was nothing but barren mud ten years ago. AVhat has thus 
been done with foul material and without intention can undoubtedly 
be duplicated and improved upon by well-considere<^l and systematic 
planting with clean shells, of wdiich an abundant supply lies aboiit 
every oyster house. 

Probably the best bottom in the bay so far as natural texture is 
concerned lies along the edge of the sand strip between Snapper 
Bank and Crane signal, in a depth of from 3 to (> or 7 feet of water 
at winter low tide. Here there is a thin surface of sand resting 
upon the nnid, each material imparting some stabilit}^ to the other. 
This condition can be readily produced artificially in a great many 
parts of the bay by spreading a thin layer of sand over the muddy 
bottom, W'here it will rest and serve as a good support for shells 
and oysters deposited on it. Many bayous on the south shore below 
Tiger Island run well up to the foot of the dunes along the gulf 
shore, where at high water sand could be loaded upon scows and 
transported to adjacent bottom at comparatively small expense. 
Some of the bayous themselves could be used incidentally for fatten- 
ing grounds. 

The hard nnul bottom on the north shore is too narrow to be of 
nnich value to the oyster culturist, and moreover the water here is 
so shallow that a large i)ai-t of the bottom is much exposed during the 
winter. The sand strip in the upper bay is wider, but it. too, in con- 
sidei-able pait. lies in shallow water, and moreover there are other 
objections to planting there, as will be seen in succeeding sections of 
this report. The soft nuid bottom is all found in a depth which 
would keep planted oysters covered at all limes. Above Dog Island 



OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. 51 

Keef tlu' water ranges from L (o ."i feel. beiii<; soiiiewhnt more shal 
low close to the reef than farther uj) the hay. Heh)w I)oi>- Island 
the depth gradually increases to the maximum of 14 feet at the lower 
limit of the survey. 

TIDES. 

At the time of the hydrooraphie survey of Matagorda Bay by 
the Coast and Geodetic Survey no bench marks of a permanent na- 
ture Avere erected, and for the present work it became necessary to 
establish a neAV plane of reference. jNIatagorda was selected as the 
most central and convenient locality, and a plain staff, reading from 
to 6 feet, graduated in tenths, was fixed to a pile on the wharf 
of Mr. Carr's oyster house at that place. The staff was protected on 
three sides by boards 10 inches wide driven into the bottom at right 
angles to one another and nailed. At the end of the season's work 
a bench mark was established by driving a three-fourths-inch gal- 
vanized iron pipe 10 feet long into the bottom close alongside the 
tide gage, w^ith its toji coinciding with the reading of 1.5 feet on the 
tide gage, the plane of reference adopted in this survev. This plane 
of reference is the average of ?51 low waters, from January '20 to 
February 19, inclusive, and may be taken as the average low w^ater 
in the height of the oyster season. At this stage of the tide the crests 
of Dog Island, Shell Island, and Mad Island reefs are exposed, and 
there is less than a foot of water on the highest parts of Half Moon 
Reef. For the purposes of this survey it was not deemed necessary 
to establish secondary gages, for while it was recognized that the 
barrier of Dog Island Reef woidd produce relative diversity in the 
levels in the upper and lower bay. the average error was compara- 
tively slight and insufficient to have practical bearing upon the sub- 
jects herein discussed. 

Owing to the remote and constricted connection with the gulf, 
the tides in the part of the bay covered by this report are largely 
independent of lunar influence, and it frequently happens that the 
Avater level remains stationary throughout the day. The average 
diurnal range during the period of tidal observations, from January 
20 to May 11, inclusive, was less than 2?^ inches, and the maximum 
change during tAventy-four hours Avas 1.1 feet, from gage reading 
2.2 feet at noon February 18, to gage reading 1.1 feet at 8 a. m. 
February 19. 

The height of these tides is generally dependent upon the direc- 
tion and velocity of the winds, southerly and Avesterly winds rolling 
up the Avater above Half Moon Reef, and northerly and easterly winds 
.driAnng it out. In consequence of this, during the oyster season, 
when there is a prevalence of Avintry northers, the tides are in gen- 
eral at their lowest, increasing in height as the spring advances and 
southerly and southwesterly winds gain the ascendency. This is 



52 



OVS'li:!^ BOTTOMS IN M.VTAGOKDA IJAY. 



sliowii ill llic Inlhtw iiiir l;il)lc. l'"' li»'i;L'lit l)('iii<,f rccorilcrl ir, feel above 
or Im'Iow the ]tl:iiic of rcrtTciicf : 



Date. 


.\veragc 
vlow tide. 


Average 
hi^ tide. 


Lowest 
tide. 

Irrt. 
-0.4 
0.4 
+0.2 
+0.4 
+ 1.0 


Highest 
tide. 




1905. 


Fert. 
0.00 
+0.11 
+0.64 
+0.92 
+ 1.43 


Feet. 
+0.15 
+0.28 
+0.78 
+1.15 
+ 1.65 


Feet. 
+0.4 


February 




+0.7 
+1.4 


April, 

Mav 




+1.7 
+2.1 









A curve showino- the daily mean tide at the i^age from January 
i20 to May 7. inclusive, is sIioavu on plate x, facin<r page 00. 

Upon this question of the tides three iniijortant factoi-s in oyster 
l)r<)duction are dependent, namely, the production of currents, the 
regulation of the density, and the exposure of the bottom. The first 
two will be treated hereafter under their a])propriate heads, but the 
latter can properly be considered here. 

It is a matter of common knowledge that in many places, espe- 
cially in the South, oysters are subject to daily exposure to the air, 
and apparently sutfei- but little or not at all in consequence, ^^^len 
the tide leaves them they close their shells, and retain within them 
sufficient fluid to sustain the vital functions until they are again 
covered, and this conservation of the necessary fluids can be sus- 
tained for several weeks or, under some conditions, for months. 
Eventually, however, in cases of prolonged exposure, the muscle 
closing the shell must relax from sheer fatigue, the fluid escapes, and 
the animal dies, as can be seen on examination of the shores and reef 
cre.sts of the bay. 

xVn inspection of the accomi:)anying chart will show a fringe of 
scattering oysters along j)ractically the entire southeastern shore of 
the bay above Tiger Island, and on the northwest shore above Stump 
signal. Durino- the .summer months, when the tides are high, the 
minute swimming fry derived from the spawning oysters in the 
vicinity are carried by the currents into the shore waters, where they 
.settle doAvn and attacli to the shells and other firm bodies there found. 
For some months after their attachment their environment remains 
favorable and they flourish and grow, but with the advent of winter 
the tides gradually drop away and they are left for longer and longer 
periods exposed to the air and sun. Many of them have set in water 
so shallow that they are left bare for a large part of December, 
January, and February, when the tides are at their lowest; the 
bottom on Avhich they lie becomes seamed and cracked from the effects 
of snn and wind, the oysters sicken, relax, and eventually die. 
During March and April, when the scattering shore growths of the 
upper bay were examined by the survey, a very large proportion of 
the oysters were dead or dying: few, if any, were of sufficient size for 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 53 

market, and none were fat. It is probable that, were it not for the 
long periods of low water and the consequent mortality, a very 
considerable proportion of the shores of the upper bay would be 
fringed by a dense growth of oysters instead of the sparse growth 
now existent. The same causes operate to restrict or inhibit the pro- 
duction of marketable oysters on the crests of the reefs of the lower 
bay. 

Even in those cases in which oysters have set in water deep enough 
to insure them against more than temporary exposure they are placed 
under conditions unfavorable as compared with those surrounding 
their fellows that are never exposed. They can feed only when 
covered by the tide, and the more constant this covering the greater 
the opportunity to obtain an abundant supply of food. In waters 
richly laden with the minute plants on which they feed it may be 
possible for them to obtain in a few hours daily all the nutriment 
required for growth and fattening, but in less fertile waters the 
entire twenty-four hours may be none too long. 

With equality in other conditions, therefore, those oysters which 
are constantly covered have advantages over those subject to ex- 
posure, and notwithstanding the good character of the bottom in the 
shoaler waters of the upper bay, oyster culture could not be under- 
taken there with any prospect of success for precisely the same rea- 
sons that have militated against the establishment there of permanent 
natural beds. The prospective oyster culturist of Matagorda Bay 
unist seek some location in which the bottom is not exposed during 
the low tides prevailing in winter. That such locations, presenting 
the other desirable features also, are not hard to find Avill be shown in 
the further discussion. 

CURRENTS. 

In the original scheme of the survey it was contemplated to make 
systematic observations on the direction and velocit}^ of the currents 
in various parts of the bay, but upon arrival on the ground it was 
speedily appreciated that from the nature of the local conditions sucli 
observations would have but little value, and no definite data could 
be presented. Currents in bays and estuaries in general are mainly 
conditioned by the tides, which in most regions have sufficient regu- 
larity to establish well-marked and definite currents for each phase 
of lunar influence, and for any given stage of the tide there is a cor- 
responding current constant in direction and within certain limits 
more or less constant in velocity and duration. In Chesapeake Bay, 
for instance, the Coast Survey is enabled to furnish data showing the 
direction and average velocity of the currents for any given point and 
stage of the tide, but in the portion of Matagorda Bay covered by the 
present survey such predictions are absolutely impossible, owing to 



54 OYfcSTHK BOTTOMS IN MATAtlOliDA BAY. 

the tidal irro<iiilaritios noted in the precedinir chapter, and any obser- 
vation made would liave been applicable to the time of observation 
solely. It was considered, therefore, in view of the nndtiplicit) of 
factors requiriiiii' investigation, that the time neceaeary foi- this work- 
could be more })ro(itably devoted to other (ields. 

Thouirh lunar inflnence is felt to a sli<Tht extent throu<>h rhe con- 
nection of the bay with the gulf at Pass Cavallo, for all practical 
purposes the tides, and therefore the currents, are under the domi- 
nation of meteorological conditions. Northeast winds set up currents 
running down the bay and southwest winds produce the opposite 
eifect, and the velocity depends largely upon the velocity of the wind. 
On calm days the set and strength of the currents is conditioned by 
the direction and velocity of the wind on preceding days; in other 
words, upon the character of the movement requisite to establish an 
equilibrium of level between the ditferent parts of the bay. During 
calms after northeasters the set of current is toward the head of the 
bay, after soutliAvesters tOAvard the mouth. Another meteorological 
factor which affects the water level, and therefore the currents, is the 
amount of rainfall and the discharge into the upper bay through the 
Colorado River, Caney Creek, and smaller streams. '\Mien the dis- 
charge is heavy there is a general set toward the mouth of the bay, 
and this may continue even while the tide is rising, a common feature 
of tidal phenomena in estuaries. Cowing to the small average diurnal 
change of water level, as shown by the daily observations, the currents 
in the bay are necessarily weak, excepting in the channels through 
Dog Island Reef, where there is usually a strong flow, often in one 
direction for several days in succession. On most of the oyster beds 
of the Atlantic coast the tidal change is between 2 and G feet twice 
daily, and it will be at once seen that the currents must be of much 
greater velocity than in Matagorda Bay, where there is an average 
diurnal change of less than 2J inches in the entire twenty-four hours 
and frequently no change at all. In the Chesapeake Baj^ oyster 
region, where the tide ranges from 1^ to 2| feet in average height, 
there is a maximum current of from 0.4 to 1.5 Iniots, according to 
locality, four times each clay, and the slack water at any time is, of 
short duration. At Cherrystone Light the average daily current is 
0.9 knot, and it is at almost that velocity within an hour of slack 
water, either flood or ebb. 

The ini[)ortance of these currents to the oyster industry is consid- 
erable. They scour and keep clean the shells or other material offer- 
ing surfaces for the attachment of spat; they distribute widely the 
minute swimming embryos or fry and make possible a set of spat 
in places distant from the location of the parent oysters, and, finally, 
they bring constantly renewed supplies of food-laden water within 
the influence of the weak currents which the oj^ster itself produces 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA UAY. 55 

when feeding — all vital consideratipns to the oyster culturist. Unless 
it be kept clean of even thin deposits of sediment and slime, which 
would stifle the tiny oyster when it settles down, the material de- 
posited for the purpose of obtaining a set of spat is soon rendered 
useless and the planter loses both his material and the labor involved 
in distributing it. If there be no currents to waft the tin}^ oyster 
fry from tlie neighl>oring natural or planted beds of spawning oys- 
ters it is necessary to distribute brood oysters with the cultch, which 
entails additional expense while the chance of obtaining a good 
strike is materially reduced. And finally, unless they be enormously 
laden with food organisms, as in the artificial inclosures or claires 
used by the French, dead or slack waters will not produce fat oysters. 
Excepting the reef channels and taking all factors into considera- 
tion, the currents are most constant and strongest in that portion of 
the bay lying along the peninsula shore below Tiger Island. In the 
upper part of the bay the free ebb and flow of the lunar tides is re- 
tarded -more or less by the barrier of Dog Island Reef, but below 
Tiger Island they have unrestricted sweep in the deeper water of 
the southeastern side of the bay, while they are impeded on the oppo- 
site side by shoaler water and the projecting reefs. The same 
factors operate to promote in the same locality a freer circulation of 
the water under the influence of the winds, and finally all of the 
water derived from the streams, the major portion of which is dis- 
charged just above Dog Island, finds its way to the sea through the 
lower bay mainly along the peninsula shore, toward which it is de- 
flected by Dog Island and Shell Island reefs. So far, therefore, as 
one may be influenced by the important matter of currents, the choice 
of location for oyster culture Avill be directed toward this part of 
the bay, for here flows not only most of the water passing from the 
sea to the upper bay, and of the still heavier discharge from the 
upper bay toward the sea. but also such movements as operate to raise 
or depress the level locally below Dog Island Heef, whether under 
lunar or meteorological influence. Other factors being equal, the 
advantages in the nuitter of current x-elocities are decisive. 

te:\iperaturr. 

Two series of water-temperature observations were made during 
the survey, one consisting of tridaily records at the anchorage of 
the Fish Hawk, beginning January 1, 1905, and ending May 12, 1905, 
and the other consisting of 120 observations scattered at more or less 
uniform intervals, both in time and space, over the entire bay above 
Half IVIoon Light, between March 4 and April 28, 1905. In all cases 
these readings represent the temperature of the water at a distance 
of 14 inches from the bottom, irrespective of depth. 



5<> 



(n'STEK BOTTOMS IN .M A r.VC;OHI).\ I5AV 



'riic <)l)S('i\ii(i()Us made al the I-i.sli lidwk anchorage in s IVcl oJ' 
water oil riircc Mounds signal give (lie results .shown in (lie toHow- 
iiiif ImMcs : 









■ 






l)Htf. 


Average 
tempera- 
ture. 


Date. 


Average 
tempera- 
ture. 


.laimarv 1-15, inclusive 


Degrees. 
52.9 
51. 8 
45.5 
47.3 
60.3 


March 16-31, inclusive 
April 1-15, inclusive... 

April li;-.^n inflnsivM 




Degrees. 
68 2 


.laniiiiry 1(>-31. inclusive 

Kcbnijirv 1~M. inclusive 




71.2 
73 4 


Kcbriiaiv 1.V2S, inclusive 


May 1- 




77 ■' 


March 1-1.'>. inclusive 












Month. 




Number of days on which temperature 
was between— 


Days 
observed. 




30-40. 


40-50. 50-60. 


60-70. 


70-80. 


1905. 
January 


1 
3 


10 20 
22 3 
10 17 






?1 


Februarv 






28 


March 


4 
5 


25' 

11 


31 


April 






30 


Ma v 1-11 1 


n 






1 







The temperature observations at large in the bay, owing to the ex- 
igencies of the work and weather, were not made with sufficient reg- 
ularity find system to be readily digested, their main purpose being 
the correction of the densities shown on the chart. A comparison 
with the corresponding day's observations on the Fish Hatch shows 
a general agreement within one or two degrees, excepting, as might 
be expected, that the shoal water warmed more rapidly with the ad- 
vance of spring. During the winter, which w^as an unusually severe 
one, the temperature dropped on several days below the freezing 
point, but on the whole the operations of oystering were not nearly 
so much interfered with as they are every year on the oyster beds of 
Chesapeake Bay and northward. In this respect the oyster fields of 
Texas and other localities on the gulf coast have a distinct advantage 
over those of the Atlantic coast. 

The prime importance of the temperature of the water lies in its 
relation to sj^awning and the spawning season. The oyster, as is 
shown by the writer's observations on various parts of the gulf and 
Atlantic coasts, does not begin to spaw^n until the temperature of the 
surrounding water reaches about 70° F. An inspection of the table 
will show that this average^ temperature was not reached until April, 
and it was ])ast the middle of that month Avhen it rose permanently 
above 70° ; before then there were occasional periods Avhen it fell for a 
daj' or two below that point. During the winter particularly the 
changes of temperatui'c, even at a depth of 8 feet, were sudden. 
From 8 a. m. February 12 to 8 a. m. February 14 the temperature fell 
from 48° F. to 32° F,. a decrease of 1()° in forty-eight hours, and 
from 8 a. m Januarv 12 to 8 a. m. Januarv 15 it fell 18°, from 59° to 



OYSTEE BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY, 5 ( 

41°. After March 1 the changes were more equable, a factor favor- 
able to the young oyster fry, which a[)pear to be peculiarly susceptible 
to the influences of sudden transitions. There are no records avail- 
able which show what the late spring and summer temperatures may 
be. but it can be assumed that after the middle of April the tempera- 
tures everywhere in the bay are above the minimum required for 
spawning, and that there are few, if any, sudden changes such as kill 
large numbers of the oyster fry and interfere with spawning on some 
of the beds of the North Atlantic coast. 

DENSITIES OF WATER. 

By the density of the water is meant its specific gravity or the 
weight of a given quantity, as compared with the weight of the same 
quantity of pure fresh water. If the weight of the latter be con- 
sidered as 1.000, that of salt water from the open sea will be about 
1.020)0, and the water on the oyster beds will be somewhere between 
these two, as oysters live only in brackish waters and eventually die 
if placed in water either too salt or too fresh. Aside from the ques- 
tion of the very existence of the oyster the matter of density or salinity 
influences the flavor, stock taken from the fresher waters being 
insipid or even repugnant to many palates, Avhile very salt water 
produces a briny flavor equally objectionable. 

Two series of density observations w-ere made during the survey, 
one on the Fish Haivk in connection with the temperature observations 
from Januarj^ 1 to May T, inclusive, and the other by the field party 
as the work progressed from the head of the bay downward. The 
latter, which, like the other series, have been corrected for tempera- 
ture, are shown in red figures in their appropriate positions on the 
chart, together with the date upon which the observation Avas made. 
As was to be expected, the water in the upper parts of the bay has a very 
loW' density. The Colorado River, Caney Creek, and several smaller 
streams flow into this part of the bay and at limes discharge large 
volumes of fresh water, and there is a consideral)le influx at all times. 
This fresh water has no means of egress from the bay excepting at 
Pass Cavallo, about 30 miles below Matagorda, and, moreover, its 
escape is very materially retarded by Dog Island Reef, which with the 
exception of severa-l small channels forms a complete barrier across 
the bay, with its crest awash at low water, just below the mouth of 
the Colorado. Formerly, as already stated, a channel, Mitchells Cut, 
afforded a connection of fluctuating breadth and depth between the 
extreme upper part of the bay and the gulf, but in the summer of 
1904, after many oscillations dating from the time of its formation 
about 1875, this cut finalW closed. It is apparent that during the 
existence of the opening the density conditions in the upper bay must 
have been quite difTerent from those obtaining during the survey. It 



58 OVSTKH noTTOMS FN MATACJORDA I'.AV. 

tunii^lu'tl ail avt'iiiu' of ocapr lor the I'ri'sli walci" (iihcliar<2,iMl hy (lie 
streams and a means of ingress for salt water from the jjjulf. and llic 
two a<j^encies operalnii!,' toward the same end nnist inevitably have 
produced a salinity considerably higher than that found by the survey. 
That this is true is indicated by the former presence of good oysters 
above Dressing Point, where they could not be i)roduced under th'' 
conditions existing during the winter of 1904-5. 

During March and until April 12 the highest density ob.served 
above Dog Island Reef was l.OOGl on March 22, and most of the 
readings were below 1.0030. This was during a time when the 
observations made below Dog Island Reef on the Fhli Iloirl' av- 
eraged about 1.0140. Above Dressing Point on several occasions the 
water was perfectly fresh and at no time between March 1 and 
March 21 did it rise above 1.0056 and the average was but 1.0020. 
This part of the bay is of course especially affected by the closure 
of Mitchells Cut. The observed density is entirely too low for the 
production of good oysters, and as during times of heavy rainfall 
in the drainage basin of the Colorado it undoubtedly falls for con- 
siderable periods below the average density of March there is no 
doubt that many of the beds will eventually be decimated or utterly 
destroyed unless from either natural or artificial agencies there 
occurs some change in the topography which will reestablish con- 
nection with the gulf. 

During the spring of 1905 this condition was made manifest to 
those interested in the oyster industry at Matagorda, and a private 
subscription was made to defray the expenses of opening a new cut. 
Considerable work was done in deepening Browns Bayou (just be- 
low Brown signal) and this channel was extended artificially 
almost to the gulf shore. The position of this canal is shown on 
the chart. It was planned to make the final opening into the Gulf 
at a time of very high tide in the bay, so as to take advantage of 
the scouring action of a strong outward flow to carry the excavated 
sand away from the bay, but at the time th(> survey party left (May 
12) no such opportunity had occurred. Undoubtedly this cut if 
completed and maintained will have a beneficial effect, and should 
considerably increase the density of the water in the upper part 
of the bay and reestablish the oyster beds of the region upon their 
former productive basis. It is doubtful, however, owing to the 
shifting sands of the gulf littoral, whether the cut can be maintained 
in effective cross section w^ithout more or less frequent excavation. 
A jetty or revetment extending to moderately deep water in the 
gulf would doubtless be most beneficial, but such Avork is expensive 
and it is uncertain whether it would be warranted by the results. 
At all events, however, the establishment of oyster culture and the 
existence of productive natural beds in the upper waters of Mata- 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 59 

gorda Bay depend upon the maintenance of some considerable con- 
nection between the gulf and the bay in that region. The present 
low salinity is absolutely prohibitive of the production of market- 
able oysters. 

Between Dressing Point and Raymond Landing Shoals the bay, 
from the standpoint of density, may be divided into two portions 
by a line running through the middle. Northwest of this line the 
average density between March 120 and April was 1.0030 and south- 
east of the line during the same period the average Avas 1.0048, over 
50 per cent higher. As this was at a time when the standard obser- 
vations on the Fisli Hairk showed a marked decline of 50 or 60 
degrees, it is not improbable, though by no means certain, that earlier 
in the season, during January, February, and the first half of March, 
the water on the southeast side of the bay had a density of at least 
about 1.0060 or 1.0070, quite sufficient for the production of market- 
able oysters, though not oysters of the best quality as regards flavor. 

Between the uppermost of the Raymond Landing Shoals and Dog 
Island Reef there was the same difference between the two sides of 
the bay from April 7 to April 12, when the local observations were 
made, the average density of the northwest half of the bay being 
1.0012 and that along the southeast shore 1.0038. These observations 
were made at a time when the general salinity of the bay was low, as 
is shown by the FhJi Hawk observations, and what has been said in 
regard to probable higher salinity earlier in the season above Ray- 
mond Landing Shoals is equally applicable here. Proximity to the 
discharge from the Colorado River, however, nnist always keep the 
density unsuitably low on the northwest shore. There never have 
been any oysters there and there never will be so long as the mouth 
of the river maintains its present position. 

Below Dog Island it is convenient for the purposes of consideration 
of the densities to divide the bay into three longitudinal zones, one 
near each shore and the other in the middle. When the depth exceeds 
5 or 6 feet there is almost invariably a difference in density between 
the bottom and surface strata, the fresher water from streams and 
rainfall tending to float above the more saline water coming in from- 
the sea. As the survey's observations were all made at a fixed dis- 
tance of about 1-t inches above the bottom, it follows that the water 
specimens from the shallow water alongshore were taken at a point 
much nearer the surface than those made in the middle of the bay. 

In the region between Dog Island and Mad Island reefs the aver- 
age densities for the northwest shore, middle, and southeast shore 
were 1.0024, 1.0078, and 1.0094, respectively. These readings show 
the influence of the discharge from the Colorado, which, ]:)assing 
mainly Ihrougli Dog Island channel, near the northern end of the 
reef, tends to lower the densities in the northwest and middle zones. 



fiO oYsiKK r.o'noivis in matacohdv iiav. 

The tendency of the >tr()ngest upward currents carrying): the water 
from the f>ult' to hu<>' the peninsuhi shore also operates to pro(hice a 
hif^Iier density in that part of the bay. As the densities taken l)y the 
Fixh IlmrJc at this time were about .")()= I)elow (h»* normal estab- 
lished by the series, it is ])robable that the averaj^es for the months of 
January, February, Mai-ch, and April in this i-eirion were from ;J0° 
to 40° higher than above indicated. I>elow Mad Inland Reef the 
fresh water dischar<i;ed through Dog Island channel having been de- 
flected southward by two long projecting barriers of oysters extend- 
ing from the northwest and commingled by currents and wave action 
with the denser waters from the lower i)art of the bay, the disparity 
in density between the two shores is nmch less marked, the resi)ective 
averages of the three zones, beginning at the northwest shoi-(>. being 
1.0140, 1.01()8, and 1.01()8. These readings were obtained between 
April 'I'l and 28, and as the FisJi ILtirk observations were then about 
10" above the established normal, the local readings should be re- 
duced by that amount in order to obtain the probable average between 
Januar}'^ 1 and ^Nlay 1, 1905. 

The '• normal '" referred to in several places above is the average of 
381 density observations made at the F/sJi JIawk anchorages from 
January 1, 11)05, to May 7. 11)05, inclusive. The monthly averages 
are as follows: January, 1.01-24; February, 1.0154; March, 1.0134; 
April, 1.0092, and May, 1.0100. The average daily observations are 
shown graphically in the upper curve on plate x, an inspection of 
which will show that the densities were sometimes fairly uniform 
for several days in succession, but frequently exhibited sudden and 
violent fluctuations. A study of these fluctuations shows that they 
are in large measure conditioned by the tides, and the latter are in 
turn, as has been previously stated, mainly influenced by the Avinds. 
A northeast wind, therefore, lowers the tide and decreases the density. 
Avhile a southwest wind has the opposite influence. To illustrate this 
influence of the tides upon the density a tidal curve has been prepared 
showing the mean daily height of water at Matagorda above or below 
the plane of reference. It will be seen at once that there is a general 
coincidence of the two curves; whenever the tidal curve rises or falls 
abruptly there is a more or less synchronous rise or fall in the densi- 
ties. The explanation is that whenever there is a low tide after a 
period of tidal elevation the current sets down the bay, carrying the 
fresh water discharged by the streams into the region below Dog 
Island Reef, whereas a high tide after a ]ieriod of tidal depression 
backs the salt water from the gulf toward the head of the i)ay. Of 
course, these i)henoniena are related solely to what has takcMi j^lace 
immediately prior to the time of observation and have no bearing 
upon more remote facts. For instance. th(> tides of the middle of 
April were higher than any of those of January and February, yet 



Plate X. 




OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 61 

they were accompanied by much lower densities. It will be ob- 
served, however, that the tides, though higher than they were in 
February, were much lower than they were at the beginning of 
April, and that consequently the upper part of the bay was discharg- 
ing the water which it held at the beginning of the month ; in other 
words, the currents were setting from the fresher parts of the bay. 
Of course, in the long run the density is dependent upon the pre- 
cipitation and drainage, and in April the streams were discharging 
into the bay a vastly greater volume of Avater than they carried in 
February. The greater the discharge of fresh water into the upper 
bay the lower will be the average density of the Avater during that 
time and for a longer or shorter period succeeding. 

As a density of at least 1.0100 is generally regarded as essential to 
the production of oysters of good flavor it will be seen that, other 
things being equal, the region below Dog Island Reef has in respect 
to salinity an advantage over localities above the reef, and that be- 
tween Dog Island and Mad Island reefs the southeast side of the 
bay is distinctly superior to the opposite shore and the middle. 
These facts are significant to the prospective oyster growers desirous 
of producing the best stock. The saltness of the oysters is less im- 
portant to the shipper of shucked oysters than to the dealer in 
shell stock, as washing and icing, to Avhich the former are subjected, 
tend in any case to deprive them of much of the original flavor. 
With the growth of the country in population and Avealth, however, 
the shell trade invariably increases, a condition eventually to be 
expected on the Texas coast. 

STORMS, FRESHETS, AND SILTING. 

These factors are all concerned mainly with destructive action on 
the beds through the deposit of materials which stifle the oysters 
already existing and so cover the shells as to unfit them, for longer 
or shorter periods, for ciiltch. 

The gulf is subject to the visitation of storms of great violence and 
destructiveness, Avhich not only wreak great damage to the frailer 
works of man, but also cause marked changes in the topography and 
hydrography of the coast. Within the past thirty years tAvo such 
gales, accompanied by extraordinarily high seas and tides, haA^e been 
experienced in Matagorda Bay. During the great gale of 1875 the 
sea swept oA'er the peninsula in many places, greatly changing the 
topography of that sandy strip of land and carrying large quantities 
of shore material into the neighboring portion of the bay. As has 
been before mentioned. Forked Bayou Reef Avas partially o\^er- 
whelmed Avith sand at that time and nearly destroyed as a productive 
bed, and there is reason to believe that some of the other minor beds 



62 OYSTEIi BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

have, either at this or some othei- not remote period, undergone simihir 
experiences. If a l)e(l raised higli above tlie bottom, as is Forked Bayou 
Reef, can be thus threatened with extermination, planted beds, which 
will never be permitted to accunndate to any considei-able depth, 
would be subjected to still greater danger. Fortunately, however, 
storms of such violence ar<' unconnnon, and an average period of con- 
siderable length is to be expected between successive occurrences. 
The chief danger to oyster beds lies in that part of the bay closest to 
the peninsula ; the prairie shore and the middle of the bay are com- 
paratively little aifected. AA'ith this matter the sole consideration, 
the prospective oyster culturist should avoid a location in an exposed 
situation too close to the peninsula and especially the vicinity of very 
shifting sands either along shore or on the adjacent bottom. 

There is another i)ossibility of storm action, however, which may 
have a favorable aspect for the oyster industry. The same gale which 
practically covered Forked Bayou Reef, cut a semipermanent com- 
munication between the gulf and upper bay, with the result, as has 
been before stated, of making favorable to oyster growth a great area 
of the bottom on which it had previously been inhibited by the fresh- 
ness of the overlying water. The same thing is liable to happen again 
under similar conditions, but of course it can not be anticipated or 
taken into consideration in the location of oyster claims; and more- 
over, while benefiting the upper bay in general, the local conditions 
in the immediate vicinity of the cut, through scouring and erosion in 
one place and silting in another, would undoubtedly be more or less 
destructive. 

So far as freshets are concerned, the peninsula shore, especially 
below Tiger Island, is practically immune. The drainage into that 
side of the bay is local and circumscribed and can never be consid- 
erable in amount. On the other hand, the streams discharging on 
the prairie shore drain thousands of square miles of land, over which 
at times there may be enormous precipitation. Freshets act de- 
structively in two ways — by reducing, for considerable periods, the 
density of the w^ater to a degree which the oysters are unable to 
tolerate, and by carrying upon the beds sand, mud, and debris, which 
bury the oysters, killing them and rendering their shells inaccessible 
to a neAv set. The first disaster is more liable to occur in that part 
of the bay above Dog Island Reef where the fresh Ayater tends to 
become impounded or dammed back and where its effects extend 
more or less completely from shore to shore. The burial of beds 
under the deposits of detritus carried down by floods is. on the other 
hand, more likely to occur closer to the mouths of the streams, and 
the damage may be done in a comparatively short time. This agency 
of destruction is thei-efore more innninent close to the prairie shore, 
either above or below Dog Island, and we have a case in point, 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN" MATAGORDA BAY. 63 

already noted, in the destruction of Mad Island Reef by the debris 
carried upon it by the floods in the drainage basin of Mad Island 
Lake, which discharged close to the shoreward end of the reef. 
Localities such as this, therefore, are to be avoided for oyster culture. 
The term " silting," though in general meaning the deposit of any 
materials, either coarse or fine, from turbid water, is in this special 
connection restricted to the more or less constant dribbling of fine 
material upon the bottom. It has but little effect upon adult oys- 
ters, operating mainl}^ to cover the cultch, either natural or planted, 
with a deposit, verj^ thin perhaps, yet sufficient to stifle the small fry 
at the time when it is settling to fix and become spat. This fine 
sediment is throAvn down in general where the currents are slack, 
and will therefore, under present conditions, be greatest above Dog 
Island Reef and in the wake of the larger reefs in the lower bay — 
that is, on the prairie shore. In other words, the peninsula side of 
the bay below Tiger Island is liable to be more free from silt de- 
posits, a fact of considerable importance to oyster growers in search 
of a location. 

ENEMIES OF THE OYSTER. 

The information gathered concerning the enemies of the oyster 
in Matagorda Bay is neither as definite nor as copious as it is to be 
desired. As the investigation was made entirely during the months 
of "winter and early spring, direct observations upon this phase of 
the subject were comparatively few, excepting in the cases of mus- 
sels, boring clams, and similar organisms having no particular sea- 
sons of operation or presence. It is evident, however, that in com- 
mon with other localities on the gulf coast Matagorda Bay is free, 
or practically free, from two of the- most dangerous and trouble- 
some enemies of the north Atlantic oyster beds — the starfish, which 
is the dread of the Long Island Sound oyster planter, and the drill, 
which annually causes great destruction on the Chesapeake. Besides 
the enemies enumerated below, it is probable that the large ray, 
known on the Louisiana coast as the " stone-cracker," may cause 
occasional damage, and there is also probable the occurrence of an 
obscure parasitic worm {Bucephalus haimeatius), which has been 
found in Louisiana. 

Drumfish. — Of the aggressive enemies of the oyster this is appar- 
ently the most destructive found in the waters of Matagorda Bay. 
The species generalh'^ known as the " black drum " {Pogonias cro- 
mis) is found on the oyster beds more or less along the entire coast 
from New Jersey to the Rio Grande, but it varies much in destruc- 
tiveness from year to year and with the locality. A low density of 
water tends to exclude some oyster enemies, such as the starfish, and 
a high density others, such as the drill {U rosalpinx) ^ but the clrum- 
1G354 — 07 M 5 



64 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATACJORDA BAY. 

fisli is found in water of almost any density, and no locality acces- 
sible from the sea may be expected to be free from it. Often within 
a sinofle nin^ht. for this destroyer works chiefly in the dark, hundreds 
of bushels of stock are ground to fragments. 'J'he fish freciuently 
congregate in considerable schools, and from 100 to 200 are known 
to have been killed by the simultaneous explosion of two charges 
of dynamite aO feet apart. As the fish are large and powerful 
the damage wrought by a school so numerous as this would indicate 
can be readily appreciated. In the case of one grower near Tuck- 
erton, >. J., about 80 per cent of a total planting of 15,000 to 20,000 
bushels is estimated to have been destroyed in a few weeks, and such 
is the concealment which the nocturnal feeding habits of the fish 
afford that the damage was almost completed before the owner was 
thoroughly aware of what was occurring. The drum Avas, more- 
over, a comparatively new enemy in the vicinit3% and even after the 
loss was noticed it was for some time attributed to theft. 

This fish differs from most other animals preying upon the oyster 
in the fact that it is in general more destructive upon the planted 
than upon the natural beds, and the better the shape of the oyster 
the more liable it is to attack. The drum feeds upon its prey by 
grinding it up, shell and flesh, by means of the great molar teeth 
which floor and roof its mouth. The ill-shaped, densely clustered, 
sharp-edged raccoon oysters, the extreme of their tj'pe, are usually 
in such large clusters and present so many knife-like points and edges 
that it is difficult for the drum to crush them without itself suffering 
serious injury, and it is no uncommon thing to find the fish in the 
vicinity of raccoon oyster beds with badly lacerated lips and mouth. 
The planted 03^sters, however, especially those of the better grade, are 
in smaller clusters, and their rounded shells can be seized by the fish 
with much greater impunity. On the Louisiana coast, and presuma- 
bly in Texas, unculled oysters can be bedded with comparative safety, 
but when the clusters are broken up in order to permit the liberated 
individuals to grow and improve untrammeled by their fellows it is 
necessary to surround them with stockades or netting to prevent their 
complete destruction by the drums. As might be supposed also the 
younger and thinner-shelled oysters are more likely to be damaged 
than large heavy-shelled ones, and it is generally observed that the 
period of a few weeks following planting is that of greatest danger. 
Whether the oysters in time become more or less concealed and incon- 
spicuous through the deposit of silt, or from some other reason, it is 
generally observed that the old bedded stock is liable to escape while 
adjacent recently bedded oysters are destroyed. 

In the winter the drumfish is less active and less abundant in 
shoal water, and for this reason the survey party had little oppor- 
tunity to study it in Matagorda Bay. During some of the extreme 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 65 

cold weather a number of dead drums were observed near Mad 
Island and at other places. The oystermen state that at times con- 
siderable damage is done at Half Moon Reef and on other beds in the 
lower part of the bay, but apparently there is less danger to appre- 
hend above Dog Island Reef, though there is no reason why the fish 
should not be found there at times. 

Mussels. — The mussel may be regarded as one of the passive ene- 
mies of the oyster — that is, an organism which injures it not by 
direct attack, but by appropriating to itself certain things which the 
oyster requires, in this case food and space in which to grow. As 
will be shown in a following section of this report, the oyster feeds 
mainly upon microscopic plants called diatoms, of which there is 
a more or less limited supply in any given body of water. Investi- 
gation has shown that the food of the mussel consists of these same 
organisms, and its consumption of food consequently lessens by so 
much the supply available for the oyster. An abundant growth of 
mussels therefore may render inadequate for the oyster a natural 
fertility of the Avater otherwise quite sufficient, and beds which if 
clear of mussels would produce oysters of good quality are thereby 
rendered of but little economic value. Moreover, if crowded by its 
fellows or by foreign growths, the oyster assumes elongated or irregu- 
lar shapes, the shells are shallow, and the meat is generally inferior ; 
in other words, it tends toward the raccoon type. The young mus- 
sels under favorable conditions attach in large numbers to the 
oysters, and as they grow with great rapidity they soon form dense 
masses, which fill all available space in the clusters and crowd the 
oysters to the point of starvation and suffocation. In a number of 
places in Matagorda Bay numerous instances were noted in which 
the mussels had grown in great masses over the lips of large oysters 
and had actually killed them. 

In addition to the damage wrought thus, the mussels operate in other 
ways to injure the beds. By presenting entanglements they tend to 
collect seaweeds and other debris, which serve to stifle the oysters; 
and they very much interfere with culling, because, unlike oysters, 
they can not be knocked from the clusters, but, owing to their tough 
attachments, must be laboriously pulled off, leaving rough, unclean- 
looking debris behind. 

In Matagorda Bay mussels are found in varying numbers on prac- 
tically all of the oyster beds, but below Dog Island do not constitute 
a markedly objectionable feature. They thrive best in water of low 
salinity, and in the extreme upper part of the bay they constitute a 
serious menace to many of the beds. It was stated by persons fa- 
miliar with the region that they have developed to this extent only 
within a comparatively recent period, mostly since the permanent 



66 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

closure of Mitchells Cut. Tlie oystei- orowci- uui>t take this fact 
into consideration, for beds overrun with mussels are not only le.-s 
productive, hut the stock is liable to be inferior in condition and 
external appearance and more labor is required to cull it. 

Borer^ boring clam {Martesia cuneiformh). — During the survey 
frequent reference was heard to the j)resence of borers ujoon certain 
of the beds, but investigation developed that it was neither the drill 
(Urosalpinx) of the Chesapeake nor the like-named snail {Purpura) 
of the gulf coast which Avas so designated, but a comi)aratively harm- 
less little clam. Neither upon the reefs nor among the specimens 
exhibited by the oystermen was there found a single shell exhibiting 
the work of a predatory snail. A few live specimens of Crosalpln.v 
were found, and on Half Moon Reef there were many egg cases of 
Purpura^ but it is evident that these organisms are not destructive in 
these Avaters. 

The boring clam appears to be confined almost exclusively to Half 
Moon and JVIad Island reefs, being most abundant on the former, 
where a large proportion of the shells are occupied by it. It in no 
Ava}'^ preys upon the oyster, but merely utilizes the shell as a place of 
abode and does but comparativel}^ little harm. If either living or 
dead oyster shells from Half jVIoou Reef are carefully examined, a 
A'erv large proportion of them Avill be found to exhibit numerous 
small round holes, each fringed with a A^ery short parchmentlike 
tube. If the shell be carefully broken, each of these orifices Avill be 
found to comnnniicate Avith an egg-shaped cavity, narroAv toAvard 
the opening and broader toAvard the inner face of the shell, in which 
is snugly lodged a little clam of corresponding shape. Often the 
chambers are so numerous as to be almost in contact and the shell is 
reduced to the structure of a honeycomb. In such cases it becomes 
much weakened, the outer layer scales oil:', the clam drops out, and the 
new surface exposed jwesents the bottoms of the chambers as a 
mosaic of smooth hemispherical pits having the appearance of 
drilled cavities almost penetrating to the inner face. It is this 
appearance that generally attracts the attention of the oA'stermen, 
Avho apparently do not connect it Avith the small inconspicuous ori- 
fices primarily existing. 

The boring clam first enters the shell Avhen quite small and in- 
creases the dimensions of its chamber as it grows, cA-entuall}^ attain- 
ing a leng-th of three-eighths of an inch. The boring of the chamber 
sometimes perforates the shell, in Avhich case the oyster throws doAvn 
ncAv deposits of shelly matter to close the opening and produces 
either a general thickening Avhen the perforations are numerous and 
close together or a series of slightly elevated lumps Avhen they are 
more isolated. The clam never attacks the oyster, but gets its food 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 67 

through the external pores. Although so far as the writer is aware 
no investigations have been made, it undoubtedly feeds upon many 
of the same organisms that constitute the oyster's food, but so small 
must be the quantity required that it can not have much effect in de- 
priving the oyster. The only real damage done by this organism is 
the gradual disintegration of the old shells to the lessening of their 
value as cultch and the occasional weakening of the shells of living 
oysters so that they break in culling. 

Boring sponge {Gliona sulphurca) . — This animal, like the preced- 
ing, attacks the shell rather than the oyster itself. It apparently is 
not so troublesome in Matagorda Bay as on some other portions of 
the coast, but evidence of its work was found on certain of the reefs 
below Dog Island; above that place the water is generally too fresh 
for it to grow in profusion. It produces what are generally known 
to the oystermen as " worm-eaten " shells, a condition characterized 
by a network of small irregular burrows which often so completely 
fill the shell and leaA'e so little solid material that it can be crumbled 
in the fingers. In its young stage the sponge fills these galleries with 
a yellow pulpy mass and projects from the external orifices in little 
mushroom-shaped papilli or pimples. In its older stage it forms a 
large sulphur yellow or pale orange mass which may completely 
embrace the shell in which it originallj' grew. The means by which 
it burrows has not been definitely determined, but it probably exudes 
a fluid having a solvent action on the limy material of the shell. 

The boring sponge damages the reefs in several ways. It breaks 
up the shells and covers them with a slimy deposit, both of which 
processes tend to unfit them for the attachment of future growths of 
oysters. It renders the shells fragile and difficult to cull, besides 
making the oysters unattractive as shell stock, both on account of 
their exterior appearance and the mottled and discolored aspect of 
their interior. It serves to encourage the accumulation of other 
debris on the beds. And, finalh^, as the galleries frequently pene- 
trate the inner face of the shell, the oyster to stop the gaps is forced 
to lay down successive deposits of shell and apparently suffers more 
or less damage, for almost invariably badly infested individuals are 
poor in quality. 

Barnacles {Balanus). — Barnacles are generally a minor or insig- 
nificant enemy to the oyster. Their effect is very much the same as 
that produced by the mussel, their rapid growth tending to produce 
crowding in the oyster clusters, besides making the shells unattract- 
ive and uncomfortable to handle. In Matagorda Bay they are not 
especially troublesome, though found in small numbers on a consid- 
erable number of the beds. 

''''Red grassy — The growth locally known by this name is not a 



68 OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. 

vegetable substaiicT at all, l)ul (.•ousists ol' the t-loscly aggregated QLi^g 
cases of a snail-like niollusk, Purpura. It is found in dense masses 
ujDon the oysters and shells of Half ISIoon Hccf, the growth being 
about one-half inch long, extremely tough and leathery, and of a 
rich crimson color. It is objectionable in itself as interfering with 
culling, and the niollusk to which the eggs give rise is reputed to drill 
the oysters, although the author has never been able to satisfy him- 
self absolutely of the truth of this assertion. 

FOOD OF THE OYSTER. 
CHARACTER OF FOOD AND MANNER OF FEEDING. 

The food of the oyster consists mainly of microscopic plants, prin- 
cipally of the kind known as diatoms, together with a small number of 
microscopic animal organisms. Infusoria, some of which so closely re- 
semble plants that their exact status is still a matter of dispute among 
naturalists. Diatoms, a number of species of which are illustrated 
(pis. XI, XII, and xiii) , vary greatly in shape and size, but all resemble 
one another in the interesting character of encasement in a siliceous 
or glassy shell, usually beautifull}^ sculptured, and nearly all of them 
have the power of independent movement. Most of them exhibit a 
golden brown coloration, unequally distributed, but there are a few 
blue-green species. Prorocentrum.^ one of the so-called animal or- 
ganisms referred to above, is an equally minute green body, propelling 
itself by means of a taillike lash, and it, too, is sometimes inclosed in 
a capsule, which, however, is not siliceous in structure. Though 
both diatoms and Infusoria are capable of motion by their own 
powders, their movements are too feeble to transport them any con- 
siderable distance and are only sufficient to raise them above the bot- 
tom, where, however, the organisms are l^rought within the action of 
tidal currents, which become the chief agency of transportation and 
bring about their general distribution. 

The oyster feeds upon these minute bodies by straining them 
through its sievelike gills from the same water which it utilizes in 
respiration, and it j^asses them on to the mouth through feeble cur- 
rents set up by the lashing of innumeralile microscopic bristles which 
clothe the gills and the neighboring organs. These currents are the 
only means by wdiich the oyster can reach out into the water sur- 
rounding it and bring to itself the food there supplied, and so weak 
arc they and so limited in their radius of action that the supply avail- 
able to each individual oyster would be soon exhausted were it not 
constantly replenished by tidal currents bringing new bodies of food- 
laden water within reach. In still water, therefore, the oyster is 
able to obtain less food than in flowing water of the same fertility. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 69 

DISTRTBUTIOX AND AVAILABILITY OF FOOD. 

In any given bod}^ of water in which the physical conditions of 
precipitation, density, temperature, etc., are fairly constant there is a 
more or less fixed limit to the amount of oyster food produced, very 
much as there is limitation to the size of the crop that can under simi- 
larly fixed conditions be grown on a given area of land. As. how- 
ever, the diatoms and other organisms upon which the oyster feeds 
are not permanently fixed to the bottom but suspended in the water, 
it follows that their abundance fluctuates rather more than that of 
land crops in general correspondence to the relative instability of 
the water as compared with the soil. A high storm tide, for instance, 
may carry away on its ebb large numbers of diatoms and materially 
reduce the food value of the waters over the oyster beds. Such 
phenomena are readily intelligible. There are others, however, con- 
nected wdth the distribution and abundance of diatoms, which are 
obscure as to their causes. It is a fact well know^n to students of 
diatoms that not onl}^ their abundance in a given body of water but 
the species themselves vary from year to year, and practical investi- 
gators of the oyster beds observe the same fluctuations. In an ex- 
perimental pond or claire at Lynnhaven, Va., where every effort has 
been made to maintain practically uniform conditions, the rise and 
fall of many species has been observed and it was not possible to 
assign any cause for the changes. Oystermen and oyster growers 
have indirectly remarked the same fluctuations, as their oysters one 
year fatten and the next fail absolutely to get into condition for the 
market, a phenomenon found everywhere on our coasts, but more 
frequently occurring in some localities than in others. 

Undoubtedly there are for these irregularities physical and chemi- 
cal causes which it may take years to elucidate, but for the failure of 
the oysters to fatten in some localities there are sometimes causes 
which it is by no means difficult to trace. Like land plants, diatoms 
require for their growth certain soluble mineral salts, sunlight, and 
air, all of which they obtain in the water, the medium in which they 
live. The mineral salts, which the land plant obtains through its 
roots, bathe the diatoms on all sides, the water deriving them by solu- 
tion of the materials of the bottom and from the leaching of the soils 
of the drainage basins of the tributary streams. The former source 
of supply must be fairly uniform year after year, and the latter, be- 
ing dependent upon the precipitation, would appear, on the whole, to 
conform to an average within certain limits, being less in dry years 
and greater in wet ones, especially when freshets occur. In any given 
body of water, therefore, with a fairly constant supply of salts in 
solution there is a certain more or less definite limit beyond which the 
production of diatoms can not proceed for lack of necessary nutri- 
ment. To produce oysters of good size and quality a certain mini- 



70 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

mum consimiptioii of (liatoms is necessary, with the exact definition 
of which we are not now concerned, and it follows from the limitation 
of the i)roduction of diatoms that the production of oysters in any 
given area is likewise limited. The absurdity of the claim of those 
enthusiasts who nndtiply the area of the tidal bottoms of a state by 
the annual yield of a few favorably situated acres and exhibit the 
product as the potential oyster production under a system of oyster 
culture is not difficult of demonstration. Every oysterman knows 
that on densely inhabited beds the oysters are less likeh^ to fatten than 
on those beds where the groAvth is more scattering, and every oyster 
planter learns sooner or later, either from his own experience or the 
experience of others, that he will get unsatisfactory results if the 
densit}'^ of his beds exceeds a more or less w^ell-clefined maximum ; 
that though the oysters Avill grow, they w'ill forever remain poor and 
unfit to market. In many cases the difficulty is attributed to its true 
cause, the multiplicity of mouths to feed from a limited larder. 

There is, however, another condition which not infrequently escapes 
observation — the possibility of overplanting as to area, while main- 
taining but a moderate average density of growth. Instances are 
known where the only reasonable explanation of the facts appears to 
rest on the assumption that this has been done. In Lynnhaven Bay. 
Virginia, oysters formerly fattened every year without fail, but the 
profits of the business were so attractive that eventually a large part 
of the available bottom was taken up by oyster growers, and coinci- 
dently there was a gradual falling off in the condition of the oysters 
in many parts of the bay. With a decrease in the profits attendant 
upon the inferior condition of the oysters the quantity planted has 
recently decreased, and on certain areas they were, in January, 1006, 
fat for the first time in ten years. The oysters are planted more 
thinly at Lynnhaven than on any other part of our coast, the average 
being not more than about 100 to 150 bushels per acre ; yet by utilizing 
an undue proportion of the bottom their aggregate demand for food 
has evidently become too great to be sustained by the natural fertility 
of the water. That this condition may be repeated in other jilaces 
there can be no doubt. 

Unfortunately our knowledge of the food and feeding of the 
oyster has by no means reached a stage where just what population 
a given body of water will sustain can be foretold. That determina- 
tion must for many years at least be made a matter of experiment, 
but knowledge of the facts above stated may guard prospective oyster 
growers against a too rash and unconsidered expansion of their busi- 
ness and dictate care not only against planting too thickly, but 
against a too gregarious location of their claims. A general knowl- 
edge of the local distribution of food organisms in any given region 
is of value, and quite within reach. The survey is able to make some 
contribution to the subject. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGOEDA BAY. 71 

FOOD VALUE OF WATER IN MATAGORDA BAY, 

Determinations of the food value of the water in Matagorda Bay- 
were made at all places where the densitj^ was recorded, about 120 
stations, distributed at approximately uniform intervals throughout 
the bay, and many additional determinations were made at the 
anchorage of the Fish Hawk and upon the principal reefs. Ex- 
planation of the methods adopted in this work, though useful for 
the information of future investigators making comparative studies 
of the food of oysters in various parts of the coast, is of little 
general interest to the oystermen, and a discussion of them will 
be postponed to the end of this chapter. The subject of immediate 
practical value is the general distribution of the food, with the 
localities in which it is most abundant, and in the following tables 
will be found a digest of the results obtained by the present inves- 
tigation. 

The table on page 72 shows the stomach contents of oysters from 
five of the principal reefs, with the food value of the water from 
which these oysters were taken. The first column of figures repre- 
sents (in heavy type) the average number of each organism found in 
the oyster stomachs and (in roman type) its corresponding food 
value. In the adjoining column are exhibited the number and food 
value of the same organisms found in a liter (2J pints) of the water 
lying over and about the same reefs. It will be seen that the average 
oyster examined contains in its stomach about the same quantity of 
food as is found in a pint of water. 

The table oh page 73 is a systematic presentation of the kinds and 
numbers of organisms and their value as oyster food in the several 
parts of the bay above Half Moon Light. For purposes of compari- 
son and discussion the bay has been divided into twelve sections 
running transversely to the shore, and for each there is shown the 
average food value of each species of diatom, the average of the 
section as a whole, and the average of each shore and the middle of 
the bay. The attention of the practical oyster grower is called to 
the totals rather than to the relative value of the individual species, 
as consideration of the details is reserved for the more technical 
discussion. 

The food value, so called, represents the actual volume or bulk of 
the various species enumerated found in each liter of water taken at 
a level of 14 inches above the bottom, the unit of measurement 
employed being the one-millionth part of a cubic millimeter. A 
cubic millimeter is about six ten-thousandths of a cubic inch. In 
cases of organisms which from their small numbers or other causes 
are unimportant as food, the number only is shown, as it was 
considered unnecessary to calculate the volume. 



72 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 



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74 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

It will be ol)servetl that while certain j)arts of the upper bay — 
notably the middle of section I — are prolific in oyster food, the gen- 
eral average is lower than below Dog Island, Avhere the food value 
per liter (1^ quarts) of water averages 251,827 units, as compared 
with 189,490 units above that reef, an excess of about 33 per cent. 

In the lower bay the greatest fertilit}?^ fo\ind anywhere during the 
survey was in Tiger Island Channel, where there were 493,100 units 
per liter, an extraordinary figure, due mainly to the abundance of 
one large diatom, Coseinodiscus Jhwafi/s, ordinarily found on or close 
to the bottom, its unusual abundance in the water specimens being 
doubtless due to its being lifted and carried by the strong currents. 
This locality would be a valuable one for oj^ster culture, but its use 
for private ends is prohibited by the fact that it is now and has been 
for a long time a natural bed. It is an interesting fact that the sec- 
tions (E and F) immediately above and below this are practically 
less productive of oyster food than any in the bay, and so far as sec- 
tion E is concerned, it is the portions nearest Dog Island Reef and 
along the north shore which are most deficient, while on the south 
shore, near Forked Baj'ou Reef, it is especially rich, a quality- reflected 
in the fatness of the oysters on that bed. 

In sections C and D, lying between Lake signal and Shell Island 
Reef, the waters of the peninsula shore are more fertile than either 
the north shore or the middle, the food value being about 27 per cent 
greater than the former and 17 per cent greater than the latter. Far- 
ther down the bay, in sections A and B, the middle of the bay is most 
richly laden with food, exceeding the north side b}^ about 29 per cent 
and the south side by not less than 60 per cent. The middle of the 
bay, in section B, about opposite Oyster signal, is the richest water 
above Half Moon Reef. Above Dog Island Reef the most fertile 
water lies generally in the middle of the bay, but with the exception 
of the middle of section I this belt is much inferior in food produc- 
tion to the best parts below Forked Bayou, the difference being about 
17 per cent. The poorest water above Dog Island Reef lies, as might 
have been expected, close to the moutli of the Colorado, and the best 
is in the middle of section I, between Middle and Boggy lumps, where 
a really high degree of fertility is reached. The excellence of the 
food supply in this vicinity is reflected in the fatness of the oysters 
on Boggy Lump, a condition in which Middle Lump would undoubt- 
edly participate were the groAvth there less badly clustered and 
musseled. 

The method developed in this report of estimating the food value 
of waters is new, and there are no definite data for comparison ; but it 
is the opinion of the writer, based upon general experience, that any 
water containing over 200,000 units of food organisms per liter may be 
regarded as good, while over 250,000 is very good. In any event there 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGOEDA BAY. 75 

is evidence to show that a food vahie of 250,000 units will in a mod- 
erate current produce fat oysters on a moderately dense bed, while 
350,000 units will have a similar effect upon a very dense bed, like 
Boggy Lump, exposed to currents of less velocity. The production of 
oyster food in Matagorda Bay, therefore, can be considered on the 
whole very satisfactory, and sufficient to support a vastly greater 
oyster population than now exists. Taking into consideration not 
only the immediate abundance of diatoms, etc., but the size of the 
area over which they are distributed, the most favorable location for 
oyster jjlanting, so far as available food is concerned, lies in the 
middle and on the peninsula side of the bay from just above Forked 
Bayou Reef to the extreme lower limit of the survey, a large extent 
of extremely productive water. 

METHODS EMPLOYED IN DETERMINING FOOD VALUE OF WATER. 

In the investigations of the oyster food of the waters of Matagorda 
Bay the methods pursued were as follows : The water specimens, one 
liter each, were taken by the survey party wherever density observa- 
tions were made, at average intervals of about 1 mile, and, inclosed 
in tightly corked bottles, were carried back to headquarters at the end 
of the day and filtered. The filters are agate ware or copper fun- 
nels of 1 liter capacity, the small end being closed by a perforated 
cork, over which is stretched a piece of fine bolting cloth supporting 
a one-half inch stratum of well washed and sifted sand, fine enough 
to pass through no. 11 bolting cloth, but too coarse to go through 
no. 1. As the water in the funnels falls the walls are washed from 
time to time with filtered water from a wash bottle or a pipette, so 
that practically no diatoms or other organisms will adhere, and when 
the specimen has entirely filtered the walls are given a final rinsing, 
the cork is removed, and the sand washed with a small quantity of 
water into a vial or small beaker. The precipitate is then energet- 
ically shaken and the liquid immediately decanted off into a gradu- 
ated vial, a small quantity of water is again added to the sand, and the 
process repeated. As the sand is much coarser and heavier, it at 
once settles, while the organisms are carried off by the successive 
washings and collected in the vial, sufficient w^ater then being added, 
or abstracted after settling, to bring it to a standard measurement of 
10 c. c. A few drops of formalin will preserve the organic contents 
of the precipitates, wdiich are kept in vials appropriately labeled 
until such ti^ie as they can be examined. This method of filtration 
is more rapid than that of precipitation usually employed, and, more- 
over, the latter can be used only with difficulty on a rolling ship. 
Comparative tests show that they give approximately equivalent re- 
sults. One cubic centimeter of the precipitate is then transferred to a 
Rafter cell and the diatoms in ten fields each 1 mm. square are iden- 



76 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

tified and couutod, a second .sj)ecinR'n is examined in the same man- 
ner, and the sum of the twenty counts multiplied by 500 gives an 
a])i)roximate to the total number of diatoms of each species in the 
orifjinal liter of water. In former reports the writer has offered the 
total number of diatoms as an index of the food value of the water, 
but his experience in experimental work at Lynnhaven has shown 
this method to be subject to grave error even as applied to a limited 
region and to be very untrustworthy for purposes of comparison be- 
tween different regions. As the species of diatoms vary widely in 
size and fluctuate in relative abundance, it often happens that a mul- 
titute of small ones give a fictitious value to a water specimen as com- 
pared with another si^ecimen containing a much smaller number of 
a species of vastly greater volume. This is well illustrated in the 
table on page 73. Comparing the water of Tiger Island channel with 
that of Forked Bayou Reef, we find it to be but one-half as rich in 
individual diatoms; but its food value, as computed by the method 
hereafter explained, is found to be almost exactly one and two-thirds 
as great, a disparity produced by the comj^arative abundance in the 
former locality of Ooscinodiscus lineatus, the largest diatom enter- 
ing into the dietary of the oyster in Matagorda Bay, and in the latter 
place of Synedra commutata^ the smallest species of importance. 
Grave has recognized this and improves upon the previously em- 
ployed method by disregarding in his report the smaller diatoms and 
tabulating the larger, more important ones by species. His results 
as published are interesting and valuable, but are difficult of com- 
parison one with another and are still more difficult to bring into 
relation with results obtained by the same method in other regions 
producing diatoms of other species. Moreover, an error in the iden- 
tification of the species, which may easily happen with persons not 
specialists in the group, would entirely vitiate the results for pur- 
poses of comparison by other workers. And finally, there is often 
wide diversity in the sizes of individuals of the same species, some- 
times small and again large ones predominating. 

In the present paper an attempt is made to estimate the actual vol- 
ume of the oyster food in such manner as to make the results readily 
available for comparison. To this end each species was carefully 
measured in length and breadth and, Avherever possible, in thickness. 
In some cases the latter dimension was calculated proportionately from 
published figures or estimated from the known thickness of a related 
species. From these measurements and the figure of the diatom its 
volume was calculated by ordinary methods, and this result was used 
as a multiplier in arriving at the results shown in the tables on pages 
72 and 73. It is not contended that this method is absolutely accurate, 

o Grave, Caswell. Investigations for the promotion of the oyster industry of 
North Carolina, Report U. S; Fish Commission 1903, p. 247-351. 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGOEDA BAY. 77 

but it gives good approximate values readily available for compar- 
ison with other investigations made by the same method and will in 
a measure place the study of oyster food upon a volumetric basis. 
It has the advantage also of placing less importance upon the abso- 
lute identification of the diatoms, for if the measurements be accu- 
rately made and the figures carefully drawn the volume can be calcu- 
lated without reference to the exact names of the species. 

The unit of measurement adopted in this report is that emj^loyed 
by Van Heurck in his Treatise on the Diatomacea3, the one-hundredth 
part of 1 millimeter (0.01 mm.=0.0003937 inch), referred to as a 
" c. d. m." (centieme decimeter). The unit of volume, which is re- 
garded as presumably the unit of food value, is of course the cube of 
this, or one-millionth of 1 cubic millimeter (0.000001 c. mm.). It 
follows from this that when, as in section A of the table on page 73, 
the food value of the water is said to be 219,342, it is meant that in 
absolute measurement 1 liter of water contains diatoms of an aggre- 
gate volume of about one-fourth of 1 cubic millimeter. 

In order to make the results of greater value for comparison and to 
render them susceptible to recasting to accord with such improvements 
as may be introduced into the method above outlined, there should be 
given for each species, or at least for all of the important ones, the 
following data : Name, or the name of closely allied species ; outline 
of its figure; average length, breadth, and thickness, preferably in 
c. d. m. ; its calculated volume ; the number per liter of water, as 
determined by the Rafter method. Ordinarily it will be unnecessary 
to furnish these facts for all of the species, as it will be found that in 
any region from 4 to 8 organisms constitute the great preponderance 
of oyster food and the other species found are negligible for all 
practical purposes. In Matagorda Bay there were found in the 
stomachs of oysters about 25 species of diatoms and 1 infusorian, 
but over 98 per cent of the food in bulk was- contributed by 
8 organisms, Coscinodiscus Uneahis, G. excentricus, Navicula didyma^ 
N . elliptica^ Synedra commutata^ Synedra sp., Meloswa distans, 
and Prorocentrum micans. The figure and the actual numbers of 
each species in each locality will be found in the accompanying tables 
and illustrative plates, and all the other data in the following notes on 
the several species. The identifications were verified by Dr. Alfred 
Mann, and with one or two minor exceptions are authoritative. The 
measurements given are the average dimensions of a number of indi- 
viduals of each species. 

DESCRIPTION OF ORGANISMS CONSTITUTING FOOD OF OYSTERS IN 
MATAGORDA BAY. 

Coscinodiscus linearis Ehrenberg (pi. xii, figs. 1-3) is a large 
circular diatom, which on account of its bulk and general distribution 



78 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

is the most iinporlaiit food or<ranisin of the bay. It is foiiiid in 
practically equal profusion both above and belo\V Dog Island, and 
an examination of the stomach contents of the oysters from the i)rin- 
cipal reefs shows that it constitutes about G3 per cent of the food. 
It lives on or near the bottom, and is suspended in the Avater most 
abundantly in the presence of strong currents or energetic wave 
action. Average specimens measure in diameter 5 c. d. m., thickness 
1.75 c. d. m., volume=0.78 (d-Xt)=35 cu. c. d. m. 

Coscinodiscus excentrieus Ehrenberg (pi. xii, figs. 4—7) is a small 
circular diatom practically uniformly distributed, excepting in Live 
Oak Bay and the Avaters above Dressing Point, where it is deficient. 
In its vertical distribution it resembles the preceding species, and its 
numerical abundance is about one-half. Proportionally to its abun- 
dt^nce in the water it is consumed in larger numbers, but owing to its 
smaller bulk it constitutes but about 10 per cent of the food found in 
the oysters' stomachs. Measurements of average specimens show the 
diameter 2.25 c. d. m., thickness 1.7 c. d. m., volume=0.7 (d-Xt)=(> 
cu. c. d. m. 

Navicula didyma Ehrenberg (pi. xiii, figs. 7-11) is an 8-shaped dia- 
tom, found in much smaller numbers than either of the foregoing 
and not so universally distributed. It was altogether lacking in 
four sections, and is considerably more abundant and constant below 
than aboA'e Dog Island Eeef. It constitutes about 1.8 per cent of the 
food of the oysters in the lower part of the bay. Average specimens 
measure in length 4 c. d. m., breadth 2.25 c. d. m., thickness 1.8 

c. d. m., volume=0.7 (lXbXt)=ll cu. c. d. m. 

Synedra commutata Grunow (pi. xi, fig. 7) is a very small and 
active boat-shaped diatom wiiich is important by reason of its ex- 
traordinary abundance in the lower bay, especially in the vicinity of 
Forked Bayou Peef , Avhere numerically it constitutes over 80 per cent 
of the total diatom content of the water. It was found in every 
section and at almost every station, but varies sharply in its numbers 
on the two sides of Dog Island Reef, the average per liter in section 
E being 11,650, and in section F but 2,000, while the average in the 
lower bay is over six times that of the upper bay sections. It fur- 
nishes in bulk about 9 per cent of the food of all oysters in the lower 
bay, though on Forked Bayou Reef this average rises to upward of 
30 per cent. Average specimens are in length 4.7 c. d. ms., breadth 
0.5 c. d. m., thickness 0.5 c. d. m., volume=0.C (lxbXt)=0.7 cu. c. 

d. m. 

Synedra species? (pi. xi, fig, 5) is an active diatom much longer 
than the preceding species. It is universally distributed, but is more 
abundant in the less saline Avaters near the mouth of the Colorado 
and the extreme upper parts of the bay, especially in the vicinity of 
Dressing Point and above. In the latter locality it constitutes nu- 



Plate XI. 










OUTLINES OF ORGANISMS CONSTITUTING FOOD OF 
Magnification 1,000. 



/lATAGORDA BAY OYSTERS. 



1. Coscinodiscns lineatus. 

2. Coscinodi.scus exceiitricu.s. 

3. Melosira distans. 

4. Navicula didvma. 



5. Synedra sp. 

6. Navicula elliptica. 

7. Synedra eommutata. 

8. Prorocentrum mieans. 



Plate XI 




ORGANISMS CONSTITUTING FOOD OF MATAGORDA BAY OYSTERS. (AFTER SCHMIDT.) 

Magnification 440 

1-3. Coscinodiscus liiieiitus. 



A-~. Coscinodicus excentrieus. 



.s. Coscincidiscus crassus. 



Plate XIII. 




ORGANISMS CONSTITUTING FOOD OF MATAGORDA BAY OYSTERS. 



1-6. Navienla elliptica, x 660. (After 7. Plenrosisma intermedium, x -iOO. (After 

Schmidt). Smith.) 

S. Pleurosigma fasciola, x 400. (After 9-11. Xavicula didyma, x 6(i0 (After Schmidt. ) 
Smith.) 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 79 

merically about one-fifth, and in volume about one-eighth of the 
avaihible oyster food. Like the preceding species, it is taken up by 
the oysters in relatively large numbers, and constitutes about 3.4 per 
cent of their food. Average specimens measure in length 10 c. d. m., 
breadth 0.75 c. d. m., thickness 0.75 c. d. m., volume=0.65 (lXbXt) = 
3.5 cu. c. d. m. 

Melosira distans Kiitzing (pi. xi, fig. 3) is a circular diatom fre- 
quently aggregated by the circular faces to form filaments. It is 
much more abundant below Dog Island, and is entirely absent in 
Live Oak Bay and above Dressing Point. Between Mad Island and 
Half Moon reefs it comprises numerically about 12 per cent, and in 
volume over 25 per cent of the food contents of the water. It is taken 
up by the oysters in about the same proportion relatively to its 
abundance as C. lineatus, and in the lower bay constitutes about 12.3 
per cent in volume of the stomach contents. Average specimens 
measure about 3.3 c. d. m. in diameter and 2.3 c. d. m. in thickness, 
volume=0.78 (d-Xt)=20 cu. c. d. m. 

Pi'orocentnmi micans Ehrenberg (pi. xi, fig. 8), an infusorian, is 
the last food organism of consequence and Avas found practically 
everywhere in the bay. It was apparently lacking in section E, but 
was in abundance on Dog Island Reef. It was about twice as 
abundant in the lower bay as above this reef. It is less abundant 
numerically than M. distans, and owing to its smaller size much less 
important in quantity, but it is taken up by the oysters in such large 
proportions that it constitutes about 4.3 per cent of their total food 
contents. Average specimens measure in length 4.5 c. d. m., breadth 
2.75 c. d. m., thi^^kness 1.4 c. d. m., volume=0.42 (lXbXt)=7 cu. 
c. d. m. 

The other species of diatoms, constituting less than 7 per cent of 
the oyster food, are as follows : 

Coscinodiscvs crassus Bailey (pi. xii, fig. 8). 

Navicula eUiptica Kiitzing (pi. xiii, figs. 1-6), length 4 c. d. m., 
breadth 2.5 c. d. m., thickness 1.7 c. d. m., volume=0.6 (lXbXt)=10 
cubic c. d. m. 

N. arenaria Donkin, length 4.5 c. d. m., breadth 0.75 c. d, m., 
thickness 1 c. d. m., volume=0.65 (lXbXt)=2| cubic c. d. m. 

Amphora ovalis Kiitzing, length 5 c. d. m., breadth 2.5 c. d. m., 
thickness 1 c. d. m., volume=0.4 (lXbXt)=5 cubic c. d. m. 

Pleurosigma fasciola W. Smith (pi. xiii, fig. 8), length 10 c. d. m., 
breadth 1.25 c. d. m., thickness 0.5 c. d. m., volume=0.35 (lXbXt) = 
2| cubic c. d. m. 

P. ohscuruni W. Smith, length 11 c. d. m., breadth 1.25 c. d. m., 
thickness 1 c. d. m., volume=0.75 (lXbXt)=10 cubic c. d. m. 

16354—07 M 6 



80 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY, 

P. intermedium Vs. Sinilh (pi. xiii. fig. 7), length 19 c. d. m., 
breadth 2 c. d. m., thickness 1 e. d. m., volume=0.6 (lXbXt)=25 
cubic c. d. m. 

P. tetniifisbnum W. Smith, length 30 c. d. ni., breadth 1.8 c. d. m., 
thickness 1.2 c. d. m., volume=0.75 (iXbXt). 

P. (iiu/uhtta major W. Smith, length 20 c. d. m., breadth 3.5 c. d. m., 
thickness 1 c. d. m., vohime=0.(; (iXl)Xt) =45 cubic c. d. m. 

Melosira sp., Pyxilla sp., and five or six others of occasional 
occurrence. 

In determining the actual food of the oysters, 10 specimens be- 
tween 4 and 4^ inches in length were selected from each locality, the 
shells carefully opened, and the contents of the stomachs removed as 
comi:)letely as possible by means of a pipette. To the stomach con- 
tents of each lot sufficient water and formalin were added to raise the 
volume to 5 c. c. and the number of diatoms per oyster was com- 
puted by the Rafter method, before alluded to. The results for most 
of the principal reefs are exhibited in the table on page 72. For pur- 
poses of comparison there is shown in each case the number of dia- 
toms per liter of surrounding Avater as determined by the average of 
all counts of water specimens taken on the bed and in its immediate 
vicinity. The water specimens on the reef were usually taken at the 
same time as the oysters, but owing to the exigencies of the work the 
specimens over the neighboring bottoms were sometimes taken several 
days before or after. This may explain some of the minor incon- 
sistencies of the table. 

It will be observed that all of the species found in the water enter 
more or less into the dietary of the oyster, but that of the commoner 
forms the smaller, more active organisms, like Navicula did y ma, 
Synedra commutata, and Prorocentrum, are taken up in larger pro- 
j)ortion than the larger, less motile species, like the Coscinodisci and 
Melosira distans. It would appear, too, that long spinous species like 
Pleurosigma tenuissimum would be practically valueless as food even 
were they more abundant, probably owing to their entanglement in 
the cilia of the gills, palps, etc., which would retard their movement 
toward the mouth. 

The most astonishing development of the endeavor to make a volu- 
metric estimate of the oyster's food was the small quantity found in 
the stomachs. Numerically the results accord fairly with the writer's 
previous experience and with the results obtained by other investiga- 
tors, the methods being in general the same in all cases ; but the volu- 
metric results showed the average .stomach content of all oysters 
examined to be about one-eighth cubic millimeter, less than one-tenth 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 81 

the volume of the head of an ordinary pin. The method of extract- 
ing the fodd from the stomach is admittedly crude and inexact, and 
undoubtedly a considerable proportion of the stomach contents are 
not -withdrawn, but even so the results show that the volume of food 
at any given time must be very much smaller than has heretofore 
been suspected. Basing the opinion upon the known rate of growth 
of oysters, and under the extreme assumption that the food is con- 
verted into oyster bulk for bulk, the rate of ingestion must be vastly 
more rapid than assumed by Grave or suspected by other investiga- 
tors. An oyster whose body is 2-| inches long will, when in good 
condition, have a bulk of 12.000 to 15,000 c. mm. Assuming that the 
normal stomach content is one-fourth cubic millimeter, twdce that in- 
dicated above, and adopting Grave's statement that this normal con- 
tent is ingested in four hours, it would require from SOO to 1,000 days' 
constant feeding for the oj'ster to procure food in bulk equaling its 
own. We know that oystei-s on the gulf coast will grow to the 
volume mentioned in less than two years, sustaining the while all of 
the energy expenditures of metabolism and mechanical movement. 
The matter merits investigation and the revision of the assumptions 
of previous investigators, and the writer contemplates its considera- 
tion in the near future. 

SPAAVNING or OYSTERS. 

The spawning of oysters consists, in brief, of the discharge of eggs 
from the female and sj)ermatozoa from the male to meet and fuse 
in the surrounding water. The fertilized eggs develop into minute 
embryos, each furnished with a little brush of cilia or hair-like proc- 
esses which vibrate in rhythm and propel it feebly through the Avater. 
After a time varying with the temperature of the water the embryos 
develop a tiny shell, which by its weight eventually precipitates 
them to the bottom, where, if they fall upon a suitable clean, firm 
support, they attach and grow into spat, but if not they speedily 
die. As their own powers of locomotion are inconsiderable, the wide 
distribution of the young oysters in their sAvimming stage is depend- 
ent upon the currents. 

Oysters in the spawning condition are of a j^eculiar creamy color, 
with branching lines traced over the surfaces of the body. AVhen 
they are cut the ripe genital products at once exude from the wound, 
but if the shell be opened carefully and a gentle pressure exerted 
upon the body they will be discharged from a definite opening lying 
below the muscle (usually called by oystermen the '"eye" or 
"heart ") which extends between the two valves. This is the pore 
from which they floAv in the normal process. Ripe oysters in the 
language of the oystermen are aptly described as '' milky." 



82 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

Spawiiiiio- takes place, in the main, (lurin<i: sprin*^ and simnner, 
in any <(iven region extending over a period of some months, depend- 
ing npon the hititiide and tlie climate. On the gulf coast I have 
found during almost every month oysters which were apparently 
lipe, and from which there were obtained eggs which readily sep- 
arated in the water and had every ai>pearance of maturity. "Whether 
such eggs would be extruded during the winter under natural con- 
ditions is doubtful, and if they were it is practically certain that they 
would not develop, as the ex^^erience of all investigators has shown 
that develo])ment is inhibited if the temperature of the water drops 
materially below 70°. In Matagorda Bay no ripe oysters were 
found before the early part of xVpril and it was toward the end of 
that month before they occurred w^ith any frequency. A reference 
to the tables of temperatures wnll shoAv that this time was practically 
coincident with a maintained temperature of over 70°. The 
winter had been an unusually severe one and it is possible that in 
more normal seasons the conditions favorable to spawning occur 
earlier; but it may be assumed that a heavy discharge of spawn rarely 
if ever takes place much before May 1, and, judging from experience 
on other parts of the gulf coast having similar conditions, spawning 
is in all probability practically concluded by the first week in 
August. Such oysters as ripen at other times are abnormal and 
very much in the minority. It is said that sometimes in other 
places a heavy strike is obtained in September, but the writer has 
never observed this and believes that such statements are due to the 
fact that the spat is very minute at the time of fixation and is 
usually not noticed until several weeks after the actual strike has 
occurred. 

SEED AND CULTCH. 

Two general systems of oyster culture may be pursued in Mata- 
gorda Bay, either of which wisely followed would materially increase 
the productiveness of its waters. By one method young clustered 
oysters might be removed from the natural beds, where the competi- 
tion among the individuals of the dense population is so keen as to 
be injurious to all, and planted more sparingly and separately on 
suitable bottom where a favorable environment would inevitably re- 
sult in general improvement. The second method is practically to 
produce new beds by distributing over the barren bottoms shells or 
other materials to serve as spat collectors. 

The first method, which may be appropriately distinguished as 
transplanting, is that which is usually followed in the incipiency of 
oyster culture in a given locality, and for a time, at least, if placed 
under proper restrictions, it serves a useful purjiose. On many of 
the upper bay beds — ]\Iiddle Lump, Raymond Shoals, etc.— there are 
vast numbers of young oysters which by very reason of their abun- 



OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 83 

dance and consequent crowding are predestined to an early death, or, 
if they survive at the expense of their fellows, will never reach a con- 
dition fitting them for market. Those that live will, through partial 
starvation and lack of room to grow, be the same poor worthless 
things of which the adults now on the beds are types. The mor- 
tality on such beds is enormous and ^jractically the entire product 
u^der present conditions is lost to commerce. 

It has been amply demonstrated that such oysters, poor, small, and 
ill-shaped, have, if not too old, the potentiality of conversion into 
oysters of the first grade if placed under the proper conditions. It 
will not suffice to carry them in bulk, mixed with debris, and dump 
them en masse on the nearest available bottom, as has been done in 
some of the so-called planting heretofore attempted in Matagorda 
Bay. To do so merely perpetuates, in a degree somewhat ameliorated, 
perhaps, the unfavorable environment with which the}' have previ- 
ously striven and the improvement obtained may be so slight as 
hardly to pay for the labor involved. To obtain a proper measure of 
success the oyster grower must produce better stock than can be ob- 
tained on the natural beds, for he has to pay not only for practically 
twice the labor which is expended in oystering on the reefs, but is, in 
addition, under expense for the rental of the bottom on which he 
plants. He must be in a position to supply fat oysters when those on 
the reefs are poor, and to produce at all times stock of better size and 
shape. Such stock involves less labor in shucking and " opens " a 
larger proportion of meats to the barrel, and the dealer finds it 
economy, therefore, to purchase it at a higher price than he could af- 
ford to pay for the more inferior w^ild oysters. To get such superior 
product the grower must proceed w^ith care and intelligence com- 
mensurate with that which must be expended to succeed in any other 
calling. Oyster culture has everywhere received severe setbacks by 
reason of the glittering promises so frequently held forth by theorists 
that to make a fortune the only requisite is to plant at random and 
reap the harvest. Nature is bountiful — many an oyster grower has 
found too bountiful — but her concern is with the species and not with 
the individual, whereas the character of the individual is a matter 
of vital import to the grower, who will find it more profitable to have 
a fair quantity of good oysters than a host of indifferent ones that he 
call not sell, that are little or no better than the coon oysters of the 
crowded natural reefs. 

The law in Texas makes excellent provision for the removal of 
seed oysters from overcrowded and unworkable reefs, and, as is 
shown in that section of this report dealing with the natural beds, 
there is an abundant supply from which to draw. In nearly all 
cases these oysters are in dense clusters, which, in order that grow- 
ing and feeding space be provided for the individuals, should be 



84 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 

broken into singles and smaller clusters before being replanted. As 
the large clusters usually part readily, the amount of labor involved 
is not great and is am])ly repaid by the imj)r<)ve(l shajx' and condi- 
tion of the resulting stock and the less time consumed in the final cull- 
ing for market. 

There is always some mortality involved in the transjjlanting of oys- 
ters, owing to injuries received in handling, the immersion of some of 
them in the mud, and the unfavorable positions into which some fall, 
especially when clustered, but the growth is usually so much more rapid 
than in their original environment that the bulk or volume of the 
planted stock rapidly increases. The gain to the i)lanter comes both 
from an increase in quantity and, under i)r()per con.ditions, an in- 
creased price due to superiority of quality. That the dealers will pay 
more for fat and well-shaped oysters is evidenced in Matagorda Bay 
by the fact that the schedule of prices is higher for ovsters coming 
from certain beds or localities than for those from other places pro- 
ducing more irregular and more poorly nourished stock. 

The second method of oyster culture referred to above, that of 
planting shells or other firm, clean material for the purpose of 
catching the spat, or young oysters, is that which operates most 
efficaciously to increase the oyster production of any given region. 
As is shown in the descriptions of the several natural beds of Mata- 
gorda Bay, probings have shown that all, or practically all, of them 
rest upon a substratum, more or less deeply buried in accord with 
the age of the reef, which differs in no essential particular from 
the bottom which surrounds them. It is evident that they all origi- 
nated in the deposit on the soft bottom of the bay or along its shores 
of some firm l)ody which, catching a few young oysters, served as a 
nucleus from which the future growth extended. 

The egg of the oyster after discharge from the female meets in 
the water a minute body discharged from the male, and as the result 
of the fusion of the two there is produced a tiny embryo, verv unlike 
an oyster, which is'endowed with feeble powers of sAvimming. Cur- 
rents catching up these little bodies carry them about until such time 
as a shell begins to form, when they are precipitated to the bottom 
by their rapidly increasing weight. Should they fall on soft mud 
they are speedily stifled; but if by happy chance they should lodge 
on a clean body, say an old oyster shell or a living oyster, they at 
once attach to it and begin to grow. 

Under the conditions obtaining in Matagorda Bay, and in fact in 
all of the oyster regions of our coasts, the chances are vasth' against 
any given oyster fry finding a suitable lodgment. An inspection of 
the accompanying chart will show approximately what these chances 
are, practically the only natural places of attachment being on the 
preexisting beds, and all spat settling down on the vastly greater 






OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGOEDA BAY. 85 

areas of soft mud being doomed to inevitable destruction. The loss 
of oyster life from this cause alone is beyond computation. Any 
salvage of these infant oysters means just so much added to the 
resources of the region, and nature herself has shown how it may be 
encompassed. Shells thrown upon the mud serve as the most ready 
agent. Large quantities of them are to be found at the oyster houses 
at Port Lavaca, Palacios, and Matagorda, and their value as they 
lie is slight. It is estimated that at Matagorda in 1905 there were 
80,000 bushels of shells, enough to plant 200 to 400 acres of bottom, 
all accumulated within from one to three years. If these were 
planted and yielded but a moderate product, they would be more 
than sufficient to supply Matagorda with all the oysters required in 
her present trade. They would cover, with sufficient density for the 
best results, an area of barren bottom greater than the actually pro- 
ductive area of Dog Island Reef (including Tiger Island), and once 
established such beds could, with proper care, be maintained as self- 
perpetuating. At Palacios there is a smaller but still considerable 
quantity of shells, while at Port Lavaca, the center of the largest and 
oldest established oyster trade of the region, the shell heaps are very 
much more extensive. It is the confident belief of the writer that, 
judiciously planted, there are more than enough oyster shells on the 
shores of Matagorda Bay to double the present available supply of 
marketable oysters within two j^ears, and that the product could be 
made to excel in shape and condition, and consequently in value, any 
now existing there. 

It is not known to the writer that there are any other cultch 
materials available in the vicinity of Matagorda Bay, but it is not 
improbable that there are. Shells of clams and related mollusks, 
broken stone, bricks, gravel, bones, brush, and old tarred netting 
are all employed in one place or another on our coasts. Any clean 
firm body that will not become engulfed in the mud will serve the 
purpose. In Matagorda Ba}'^, crushed stone and gravel would prob- 
ably fail, as the particles are so small and the specific gravity so 
high that the cultch would become buried almost as soon as de- 
posited, excepting on the small areas of fixed sand found in places 
near the peninsula shore. 

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The following is offered as a brief summary of the observations 
made by the survey and deductions therefrom. 

1. The natural oyster beds of Matagorda Bay above Half Moon 
Reef embrace an area of about 3,108 acres and contain about 445,900 
barrels of oysters over 3 inches in length. The oysters on the beds 
above Dog Island Reef were, at the time of the survey, practically 
valueless, except for steaming, owing to the freshness of the water. 



86 OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. 

Below and includina- Dog Island Reef the bods are generally in 
good or fair condition, excepting Half Moon Keef, which was nearly 
exhausted owing to overfishing and the lack of a set for several 
years preceding. 

2. Taking into consideration the content of adults and the num- 
ber of young oysters, it is estimated that the beds below and in- 
cluding Dog Island Reef can not sustain a demand of much over 
12r),000 barrels per annum for any considerable term of years, and 
not over 75,000 barrels per year ought to be taken from the beds 
above Dog Island should they become fit to Avork. It must be under- 
stood that this estimate is based on conditions at the time of the 
survey and that the yield may fluctuate from year to year, but it is 
believed that if much more than the estimated quantity be removed 
year after year the beds will be exhausted. 

3. Owing to the settlement of the country and the improvement 
of shipping facilities, the demand for oysters in the Matagorda Bay 
region is increasing and at present is approaching closely the limit 
that may be regarded as a safe jaeld of the natural beds above Half 
Moon Reef. 

4. The time has now come when to provide for the legitimate ex- 
pansion of the oyster business it will be necessary to supplement the 
yield of the natural beds by a system of oyster culture under private 
ownership. To this end there is no strongly opposed public senti- 
ment, and the laws, with one or two defects, are reasonably good and 
favorable. 

5. The natural conditions of density, food, bottom, currents, etc., 
are favorable over an area of the bay sufficient vastly to increase 
the oyster product. Taking everything into consideration, the best 
locality is on the peninsula side of the bay, near the edge of the sand 
and outward between Snapper Rock and Crane signal, shown on the 
chart. The bottom here is of moderately firm texture, the currents 
flow with greater velocity than tow^ard the prairie shore, the food 
supply is good, and the salinity is higher than on the north shore 
or above Dog Island Reef. On the firmer bottom seed oysters can 
be planted, wdiile the softer mud wnll support shells distributed to 
catch the spat. It is believed that profitable beds can be established 
in this region, and to a less extent immediately above Tiger Island 
channel, but it will not suffice to employ the haphazard methods pre- 
viously in vogue. If seed oysters are planted, they must be properly 
culled and freed from debris. The reader is referred for a fuller 
discussion of these matters to the preceding section of this report. 
A description of the methods to be employed Avill be found in a pam- 
phlet entitled '' Oysters and Methods of Oyster Culture," wdiich can be 
obtained on application to the Bureau of Fisheries. 

O 
LBJL '07 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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